AMERICA  ( 
TOMORROW 


ABBE  FELIX  KLEIN 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


AMERICA  OF   TO-MORROW 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


AN  AMERICAN  STUDENT  IN  FRANCE. 

Authorized     translation.          Illustrated     and 
Indexed.      Large  8vo,  gilt  top  .    Net  $2.50 

IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  STRENUOUS 
LIFE.  Authorized  translation.  Illustrated 
and  Indexed.  Large  8vo,  gilt  top  Net  $2.00 


A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO.,  Publishers 
CHICAGO 


ABBE  KLEIN 
AT  ENTRANCE  TO  MANDEL  HALL,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


AMERICA 
OF  TO-MORROW 


BY 

ABBE  FELIX  KLEIN 

AUTHOR  OF  "IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  STRENUOUS  LIFE,1 
"AN  AMERICAN  STUDENT  IN  FRANCE,"  ETC. 


Translated  with  Approval  by  E.  H.  Wilkins 

Introductory  Note  by  Professor  Charles  R.  Henderson 
of  the  University  of  Chicago 


WITH  FRONTISPIECE 


CHICAGO 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO, 

1911 


Copyright 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 
1911 


Published  October,  1911 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London,  England 


m.  y. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

AMERICA  ON  BOARD  ......       i 

"  New  York  or  the  Country  ?  "  —  An  Ambitious  Title 
—  Twelve  Hundred  Immigrants:  the  Great  Number 
of  Jews ;  the  General  Problem  of  Assimilation  —  Good 
Average  Americans  —  A  Lawyer,  a  Colonel,  a  Clergy 
man,  a  Doctor  —  First  Thoughts  on  the  Japanese 
Question  —  A  National  Holiday  at  Sea. 

CHAPTER  II 

IN  NEW  YORK  AND  BY  THE  GREAT  LAKES.    NIGHT 

SCHOOLS  AND  SUMMER  SCHOOLS  .  .  .26 
My  "  Seminarist's "  5,000  Miles  —  Melancholy 
Quickly  Dissipated — At  the  Paulists';  Father  McMil 
lan  —  A  Young  High  School  Girl  —  Visiting  on  Board 
Train  —  Evening  Schools:  75  per  cent  of  Students 
Jews  —  The  Catholic  Summer  School  —  Comedy, 
Camping,  Base-ball,  Lecture,  and  Supper  —  On  Lake 
Champlain  and  Lake  George  —  In  the  Land  of  the 
Mohicans. 

CHAPTER  III 
CHAUTAUQUA 52 

The  Dream  of  a  Summer's  Day  —  An  American  Sal- 
entum  —  Chautauqua  Institute  —  An  Academic  City 
of  12,000  Inhabitants —  Its  Origin,  Programme,  Spirit, 
and  Christian  Character  —  The  Thirst  for  Knowledge. 


227156 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

IMPRESSIONS  OF  CHICAGO.     THE  NEW  WORK  OF  CATH 
OLIC  EXTENSION     ......     65 

View  of  Lake  Michigan  —  Ugliness  and  Beauty  of 
Chicago  —  An  Optimistic  Doctor  and  Chauffeur  —  In 
the  Belgian  Colony  —  A  Gallie-Canadian  Sermon  — 
The  Suburbs —  National  Grouping  —  How  a  Parish  is 
Founded  —  A  Great  and  Rich  Diocese  —  The  Amer 
ican  Clergy  —  A  New  Work  of  Catholic  Propaganda, 
the  Extension  —  Its  Necessity,  Its  Origin,  Its  Rapid 
Progress  —  The  Home  Missions  of  Protestants  and 
Catholics  —  Encouraging  Perspectives. 

CHAPTER  V 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO    .         .         .         .         .86 
Intellectual  Life  —  History  of  the  University  of  Chicago 

—  John   D.  Rockefeller's  Twenty  Millions,   and   the 
Eight  Millions  of  Other  Founders  —  Resources   and 
Buildings  —  An   Outline   of   the   Regular    Courses  — 
The  Extension  Department  —  The  Summer  Term  — 
Sermon  of  a  Catholic  Priest  at  the  University  —  The 
Common  Creed  of  Christians  —  Social  and  Religious 
Sciences  —  Professor    Henderson  —  University   Settle 
ments  —  Dormitories  —  An  Original  Institution :  The 
Greek    Letter     Fraternities  —  Delta     Upsilon — The 
Daily  Maroon,  a  Students'  Newspaper  —  The  Univer 
sity  Press. 

CHAPTER  VI 

VISITS  TO  PEORIA  AND  OMAHA    .         .         .         .         .115 
Peoria  for  Four  Years  —  The  Illness  of  Mgr.  Spalding 

—  His  Philosophy  of  Pain  —  Country  Club  —  All  My 
Plans   Upset   by    Mr.    Petry — Twenty-five    Hundred 
Miles  More  —  Vain  Protests  of  My  "  Seminarist  "  — 


CONTENTS  vii 

Omaha,  one  of  the  "  Meat  Cities  "  —  Commerce  and 
Prosperity  —  $8,000,000,000  Crops  —  Creighton  Uni 
versity —  A  Stained-glass  Saint  in  a  Rocking  Chair  — 
Springing  Up  of  Cathedrals. 

CHAPTER  VII 

ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND        .         .         .         .         .         .132 

A  Celebrated  Man  who  does  not  Suffer  by  being 
Seen  at  Close  Range  —  Simplicity  and  Activity  —  A 
Prosperous  Church  —  French  Missionaries  to  Minne 
sota  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  —  Origin  of  the  Town 
and  Diocese  of  St.  Paul  —  The  Jubilee  of  1901:  Fifty 
Years  of  Catholicism  in  the  Northwest  —  Laying  the 
Cornerstone  of  the  Cathedral  (1907):  Religious  and 
Civic  Fetes  —  Model  Separation  —  Freedom  and  Re 
ligion  Natural  Allies  —  Visit  to  a  Survivor  of  Heroic 
Times  — The  Real  Self-made  Man. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

WESTERN  CANADA    .         .         .         .         .         .         .161 

A  Property  of  360,000  Square  Miles  —  Winnipeg  and 
St.  Boniface  —  Religion  in  Western  Canada  —  Great 
Distances  and  Great  Delays  —  The  Endless  Prairie  — 
A  City  More  Serious  Than  Elegant :  Calgary  —  Advice 
to  Young  Colonists  —  Banff  —  The  Rocky  Mountains 

—  First  Asiatics  —  Dialogue  with  a  Japanese  —  The 
Race  Question  —  At  Vancouver  —  Landscape  and  Park 

—  In  Chinatown  and  the  Japanese  Quarter  —  White 
Against  Yellow  Race  —  A  Serious  Newspaper. 

CHAPTER  IX 

THE  MOST  AMERICAN  OF  AMERICAN  CITIES:  SEATTLE  .  197 
A  Fortunate  Corner  of  the  Globe:  The  State  of  Wash 
ington  —  Its     Chief     City,     Seattle  —  Material     and 
Moral  Prosperity  —  Disconcerting  Activity  —  A  Busy 


viii  CONTENTS 

Bishop  —  Moving  of  Churches  and  Monuments  — 
How  a  Hastily  Built  City  is  Made  Regular  —  A  Hill 
by  the  Sea  —  American  Push  —  French  Business  — 
Soundness  of  the  Wealth  of  Seattle  —  A  Privileged 
Situation  —  One  of  the  Sovereigns  of  the  Pacific. 

CHAPTER  X 

THE  NORTHWEST  —  TACOMA  —  PUGET  SOUND    .         .213 
The  Importance  of  the  Northwest  —  Audacious  Rail 
roads  —  Prosperity  of  the  Young  State  of  Washington 

—  The  City  of  Tacoma:  Origins,  Development,  De 
scription  —  A    Missionary    of     Prehistoric    Times  — 
Alpinesque  Horizons  —  An  Interview  a  I'  Americcnne 

—  Excursion     on     Puget     Sound  —  The     Bremerton 
Navy  Yards  —  Naval  Religion  —  Well-paid  Crews  — 
A  Sunset.  v 

.'JUn*  *****  CHAPTER  XI 

ON  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN    .         .         .         .         .         .233 

Activity  of  the  Port  of  Seattle  —  Delayed  Departure 

—  A  Falsely  Pacific  Sea  —  Meetings  on  Board :  Little 
Japs;    Students    of    Both    Sexes  —  "Europe,    if    You 
Wish,  but  America  First  "  —  Alaska,  the  Norway  of 
America  —  Uncle  Sam's  Good  Investment  —  The  Ex 
cellent   Captain  —  Story  of   a  Fire  at   Sea  —  Cordial 
Simplicity  of  Westerners  —  A  Word   on   the  Jewish 
Question  —  On  Moonbeams. 

CHAPTER  XII 

SAN  FRANCISCO         .         .         .         .         .         .         .257 

Invitation  to  a  Destroyed  City  —  San  Francisco  After 
the  Earthquake  —  Catastrophe  and  Resurrection  —  A 
Californian  Monk  —  Too  Many  Lectures  —  The 
French  Colony  —  Catholic  Secret  Society:  The 
Knights  of  Columbus  —  At  the  University  of  Cali- 


CONTENTS  ix 

fornia  —  Religion  and  Public  Instruction  —  The  En 
virons  of  San  Francisco  —  San  Rafael  and  Menlo  Park 
—  Municipal  Corruption  —  Arrest  of  the  Mayor  and 
the  Chief  of  Police  —  Labor  Organization  —  Labor 
Day  —  Employers  and  the  Unions  —  Socialism  in  the 
United  States. 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  REAL  PROBLEM  OF  TO-MORROW:  THE  JAPANESE 

QUESTION      .......  299 

Difficulties;  the  Greatest  of  All  —  Deceitful  Calm- 
The  School  Question  in  1906;  Temporary  Arrange 
ment  —  Friendly  Governments  and  Hostile  Peoples : 
The  Agreements  of  1908  and  the  Disagreements  of 
1909  —  The  Real  Causes  of  the  Conflict  —  The  Ques 
tion  of  Salaries  and  of  the  Standard  of  Life  —  The 
Democratic  Ideal  and  the  Necessity  of  Assimilation  — 
The  Importance  of  the  Yellow  Immigration  —  In 
effectual  Solutions:  That  the  Governments  do  not 
Wish  for  War,  and  that  it  would  Solve  Nothing  — 
Of  the  Rapprochement  that  would  be  brought  about 
by  the  Conversion  of  the  Japanese  to  Christianity  — 
The  Slowness  and  Difficulties  of  Evangelization  —  Some 
Hopeful  Signs  —  A  Partial  Solution :  The  Increase 
in  the  Number  of  Whites  on  the  Pacific  Coast  —  Cali- 
fornian  Wealth  —  The  Real  Strength  of  the  United 
States:  An  Optimistic  and  Free  People. 

INDEX  .         .         .351 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

A  FEW  years  ago  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
^~*  Archbishop  Ireland  made  me  acquainted  with 
Abbe  Felix  Klein,  then  a  Professor  in  the  Catholic  In 
stitute  at  Paris,  and  from  that  day  the  French  capital 
has  been  to  me  another  city.  The  French  people  can 
understand  us,  and  sincere  Catholics  there  can  open 
their  hearts  to  sincere  Protestants.  The  gay,  gentle, 
delicate,  and  refined  scholar  banters  us  cheerfully  but 
he  really  likes  us.  He  interprets  for  us  the  inner  mo 
tives  of  the  leaders  of  the  ancient  Church,  and  he  be 
lieves  that  true  religion  thrives  best  in  an  atmosphere 
of  political  freedom.  In  outer  form  this  prophecy  of 
To-morrow  appears  to  be  a  jest,  a  merry  notebook  of  a 
holiday  recreation;  in  essence  it  is  an  affectionate  reve 
lation  of  a  man's  soul  who  believes  in  liberty  and  the 
triumph  of  truth ;  it  is  an  interpretation  of  momentous 
events  which  are  too  near  us  to  be  seen  in  a  true  per 
spective.  Here  is  one  who  is  admitted  to  the  evening 
councils  of  Paulist  fathers,  to  the  private  offices  of  dis 
tinguished  bishops,  to  the  committee  rooms  of  mission 
ary  priests,  and  American  Protestants  are  taught  what 
immense  plans  are  formed  and  steadily  developed  in 
action. 

xi 


xii  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

It  is  also  wholesome  for  us  to  welcome  a  reporter 
who  is  at  once  shrewd  and  learned;  who  has  read 
widely  and  conversed  with  scholars,  authors,  states 
men,  reformers;  and  whose  own  soul  has  been  the 
theatre  of  a  modern  intellectual  revolution,  until  he 
has  learned  to  be  patient  even  with  heretics  like  the 
one  he  has  invited  to  write  this  preface.  His  style 
is  so  honest  and  transparent  that  you  can  see  his  soul 
in  his  works,  and  it  is  one  of  the  purest,  gentlest, 
noblest  souls  of  our  generation.  Read  his  message, 
and  you  will  discover  a  reverent  scholar  whose  style  is 
so  brilliant  and  charming  that  you  may  think  him  a 
man  of  the  world;  and  he  is,  —  a  man  of  our  best 
world. 

CHARLES  RICHMOND  HENDERSON. 


University  of  Chicago. 


AMERICA  OF   TO-MORROW 


AMERICA 
OF    TO-MORROW 

CHAPTER    I 
AMERICA  ON  BOARD 

"NEW    YORK    OR    THE    COUNTRY?" AN    AMBITIOUS 

TITLE TWELVE       HUNDRED       IMMIGRANTS!       THE 

GREAT   NUMBER  OF   JEWS;   THE  GENERAL    PROBLEM 

OF  ASSIMILATION GOOD  AVERAGE  AMERICANS A 

LAWYER,   A    COLONEL,   A    CLERGYMAN,   A   DOCTOR 

FIRST  THOUGHTS  ON    THE   JAPANESE   QUESTION A 

NATIONAL  HOLIDAY  AT  SEA. 

A  CERTAIN  lady  is  said  to  have  asked  an  Ameri- 
•**•  can  when  he  was  presented  to  her,  "You  are 
from  the  United  States:  do  you  live  in  New  York  or 
the  country*?"  This  sort  of  kindly  ignorance  is  be 
coming  more  and  more  rare,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  there  are  not  many  readers  who  will  ask  me 
why,  having  already  visited  America  and  written  about 
the  country,  I  should  have  made  up  my  mind  to  take  a 
second  trip  there  and  again  to  write  it  up.  Four  years 
ago  I  visited  New  York  and  even  some  of  the  big 


2         AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

towns  of  five  hundred  thousand  or  two  million  inhabi 
tants  that  lie  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  and  the 
Delaware,  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi;  but 
there  still  remained  a  good  deal  of  "country"  to  see, 
and  very  interesting  country,  too,  such  as  the  summits 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  coast  of  California,  the 
Arizona  deserts,  and  the  plateaux  of  New  Mexico. 

It  was  not  the  thought  of  seeing  new  country  that 
urged  me  most  to  take  my  way  to  America  again  and  to 
remain  there  more  than  twice  as  long  as  I  had  stayed 
the  first  time,  nor  was  it  even  my  eager  wish  to  see  once 
more  the  friends  I  had  left  there:  one  meets  one's 
American  friends  every  two  years  in  Paris !  This  time, 
in  scouring  the  country  through  its  length  and  breadth, 
—  and  what  length,  and  what  breadth !  —  my  desire 
was  to  inform  myself  as  much  as  possible  on  the  ques 
tions,  even  the  unsolvable  ones,  now  before  Americans 
regarding  the  immediate  future  of  their  country. 
Hence  the  title,  "America  of  To-morrow,"  which 
these  travel  notes  will  bear.  To  those  who  judge  it 
too  ambitious  to  give  them  such  a  name,  I  reply  that 
it  might  be  so  were  I  to  call  them  America  of  the  Day 
after  tfo-morrow,  or  did  they  aspire  to  deal  with  a 
remote  future;  but  they  do  not,  and  I  will  add  that 
even  for  America  of  to-morrow  they  do  not  pretend  to 
do  more  than  seek  out  the  hopes,  the  warnings,  and  the 
promises  that  are  pending.  In  brief,  then,  it  is  not 
the  reply  of  the  oracle,  but  only  the  terms  of  the  riddle 
that  need  be  sought  for  here.  Furthermore,  I  believe 
that  these  very  terms  themselves  richly  repay  investi- 


AMERICA   ON    BOARD  3 

gation;  and  if  it  is  true  as  Brunetiere  says,  that  the 
United  States  constitutes  the  finest  field  for  experience 
that  has  ever  been  offered  to  humanity,  then  the  reader 
will  understand,  will  perhaps  even  share,  the  curiosity 
which  induced  me  to  return  there,  and  will  enjoy  with 
me  a  glimpse  at  the  combinations  open  for  study  in 
this  gigantic  laboratory. 

He  may  rest  assured,  however,  that  he  has  not  to 
deal  with  a  savant  by  profession,  but  rather  with  a 
tourist  who  treats  of  questions  as  they  come  up,  appar 
ently  at  haphazard:  I  say  "apparently"  for  I  am 
obliged  to  confess  that  my  travelling  was  usually 
directed  toward  those  spots  where  I  knew  interesting 
problems  were  most  likely  to  be  encountered;  where, 
for  instance,  I  should  have  the  chance  to  see  by  what 
methods  of  training  immigrants  were  turned  into  Amer 
icans;  but  above  all,  to  those  distant  shores  of  the  Pa 
cific,  where,  amid  new  surroundings  and  natural  wealth, 
the  yellow  race  and  the  white  race  meet,  vie  with  each 
other,  and  threaten  to  come  to  blows  in  a  conflict  on 
the  outcome  of  which  the  fate  of  the  world  for  many 
centuries  may  depend. 

This  time  I  sail  from  Boulogne-sur-mer  by  the 
Dutch  Line.  It  will  not  be  a  fast  voyage, —  ten  days 
on  the  Atlantic, —  but  this  is  an  advantage  when  one 
has  the  leisure  and  the  sea  is  calm,  as  it  usually  is  in 
June.  On  these  sluggish  crossings  the  boat  seems  to 
glide  along  without  jolts  or  throbs,  and  one  can  rest 
better  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Besides,  the 


4         AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

Frenchman  who  is  travelling  for  study  can  begin  his 
observation  here  on  board ;  he  will  meet  no  compatriots, 
and  the  Americans  who  come  under  his  notice  are,  as 
will  be  seen,  of  the  less  known  varieties. 

From  the  deck  of  the  tender,  the  Holland,  which  is  to 
take  us  to  the  No  or  dam,  we  already  see  in  rough  out 
line  one  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  with  which  the 
United  States  has  to  cope,  that  of  raising  and  assimilat 
ing  the  immigrants  of  all  races  and  from  all  countries 
who  are  now  arriving  yearly  in  crowds  over  a  million 
strong.  On  the  wharf  a  flock  of  human  beings  is 
manoeuvring,  headed  by  a  leader  who  makes  signs  to 
them  with  a  staff.  They  advance,  they  retreat;  and 
without  seeking  to  understand,  they  follow  the  contra 
dictory  injunctions  which  are  given  them.  Four  or 
five  times  according  to  the  orders  of  the  police  and  of 
the  ship's  steward,  transmitted  to  them  by  their  leader, 
they  come,  they  go,  as  unresisting  as  inanimate  objects; 
and  we  have  plenty  of  time  to  contemplate  them. 

What  strange  and  savage  faces,  but  what  stoic  energy 
is  portrayed  on  most !  Their  features  show  the  fatigue 
of  the  long  days  and  longer  nights  passed  on  the  trains 
coming  from  the  south  and  east  of  Europe.  By  the 
costumes  and  the  faces  one  recognizes  Italians,  Rus 
sians,  Turks,  and  Hungarian  and  Roumanian  Jews. 
Their  clothes  are  poor  and  scarcely  clean,  and  hardly 
any  have  stockings.  The  men  are  in  working  clothes 
with  a  cap  of  cloth  or  fur;  the  women  are  bareheaded, 
or  wearing  a  sort  of  mantilla,  and  dressed  in  gaudy 
colors.  Some  carry  babies  in  their  arms;  and  the  con- 


AMERICA  ON    BOARD  5 

trast  is  painful  between  these  ragged  children  and  the 
fine  doll  which  an  American  child  near  me  is  holding. 
Happily  a  recollection  turns  my  mind  from  this  com 
parison.  I  remember  that  it  is  little  more  than  sixty 
years  ago  that  two  poor  little  urchins  went  to  America 
under  these  same  conditions,  one  from  Ireland  and  the 
other  from  Scotland,  two  poor  little  urchins  named 
John  Ireland  and  Andrew  Carnegie. 

The  most  interesting  of  the  band  are  the  young  men 
from  fifteen  to  thirty  years  of  age,  looking  confident 
and  determined.  I  like  the  initiative  which  two  among 
them  show,  as,  slowly  and  with  some  difficulty,  the 
gang-plank  is  being  lowered,  they  leave  the  ranks  and 
lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  sailors :  those  two  will  make 
good  Americans!  Humanity  progresses  only  through 
those  who  offer  themselves  when  there  is  a  deed  to  be 
done,  a  word  to  be  said,  an  initiative  to  be  taken,  and 
who  do  not  stop  to  think  what  they  will  gain  by  it, 
nor  why  it  falls  to  them  rather  than  to  another. 

The  passengers  proper  having  all  gone  on  board,  the 
emigrants  are  called,  one  by  one.  They  come  laden 
down  with  cardboard  valises,  baskets,  great  canvas 
bags,  and  strange-looking  blankets.  They  keep  all 
their  luggage  with  them.  So  do  I,  as  far  as  that  goes, 
but  I  have  left  something  at  home.  They  carry  every 
thing  with  them  except  the  land  of  their  forefathers, 
and  they  will  forget  that.  Perhaps  they  have  already 
forgotten  it.  One  can  read  nothing  in  their  faces. 
They  abandon  themselves  to  the  unknown,  to  the  in 
comprehensible,  to  destiny. 


6         AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

At  last  our  tender  leaves  the  wharf  and  we  steam 
out  toward  the  Noordam,  which,  riding  slackly  at  an 
chor,  awaits  us  outside  the  harbor.  As  we  approach, 
her  band  salutes  us  with  the  bars  of  the  "Marseil 
laise,"  and  this  welcome  thrills  me.  It  is  patriotism 
reviving  as  it  always  does  far  from  home  —  far  from 
our  stupid  quarrels  and  our  cruel  separations.  Of  our 
France,  who  calls  herself  anti-religious,  the  last  land 
marks  lingering  on  the  horizon  are  the  black  dome  of  a 
basilica  and  a  great  crucifix  on  the  cliff. 

The  coast  of  France  has  disappeared.  We  are  in 
foreign  parts,  quite  in  foreign  parts.  The  ship's  people 
speak  Dutch  to  each  other  and  English  to  us.  Of  the 
seventy- four  first-class  passengers  all  are  Americans  ex 
cept  a  few  Dutch  and  Germans.  Among  the  two  hun 
dred  and  forty-five  second-class  passengers  the  last  two 
nationalities  are  more  largely  represented.  As  to  the 
twelve  hundred  and  nine  third-class  passengers,  they 
can  count  but  fourteen  Americans  among  them.  The 
rest  are  emigrants  from  all  lands.  The  countries  of 
their  extraction  prove  instructive  nevertheless :  40  come 
from  Holland,  45  from  Germany,  48  from  Italy,  93 
from  Austria,  186  from  Hungary,  2  from  Bulgaria,  14 
from  Roumania,  51  from  Greece,  131  from  Turkey, 
585  from  Russia.  Almost  all  the  Russians  and  all 
the  Hungarians  are  Jews. 

Israel  has  therefore  sent  forth  one-half  this  crowd! 
In  1907  of  Jews  alone  149,182  emigrants  went  to  the 
United  States,  of  whom  93,397  remained  in  the  State 
of  New  York.  The  city  itself  shelters  more  than 


AMERICA  ON    BOARD  7 

800,000,  and  they  are  beginning  to  take  up  a  great  deal 
of  room.  Restricted  originally  to  a  poor  section  of  the 
town,  at  the  time  of  my  first  trip  they  were  invading 
the  shopping  district,  but  it  is  now  the  turn  of  the 
wealthy  quarters.  The  Jewish  question,  if  it  come 
up  at  all,  will  come  up  in  New  York  first,  but  it  is  a 
question  that  interests  the  whole  United  States.  The 
Jews  here  are  sufficiently  free  and  sufficiently  numerous 
(there  being  very  nearly  two  million  of  them)  to  show 
what  they  are  capable  of  under  a  regime  of  real  toler 
ance.  Though  there  exists  against  them  some  social 
prejudice,*  no  one  would  dream  of  excluding  them 
from  their  civil  rights. 

The  Jewish  question  is  only  one  phase  of  the  greater 
problem  of  immigration.  Whereas  from  1776  to  about 
1820,  only  250,000  foreigners  came  to  settle  in  the 
United  States,  from  1820  to  1907  not  less  than 
25,318,067  have  arrived.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  their  number  did  not  amount  to 
ten  thousand  annually;  they  now  far  exceed  a  million, 
being,  for  example  1,100,735  m  1906,  and  1,285,349 

*This  social  prejudice  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  stronger  in  the  United 
States  than  in  western  Europe.  Jews  are  excluded  from  most  clubs, 
and  are  looked  at  askance  at  schools,  and  even  at  hotels.  I  was  told 
that  a  very  rich  Jew,  a  friend  of  President  Cleveland's,  wishing  to 
stay  with  his  family  at  a  fashionable  hotel  at  some  watering-place, 
was  informed  that  no  persons  of  his  race  were  admitted:  No  Jews 
taken.  He  forthwith  bought,  just  opposite,  a  vacant  lot  and  built  a 
finer  hotel  with  lower  prices  and  placarded  the  notice:  No  Jews  taken. 
The  older  hotel,  half  ruined  and  obliged  to  accept  any  guests  present 
ing  themselves,  was  soon  filled  with  Jews  refused  admittance  at  the  new 
hotel. 


8         AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

in  1907.*  Furthermore^  the  increase  follows  a  regular 
course,  although  it  is  interrupted  and  suffers  a  falling 
off  in  the  periods  of  financial  crises  such  as  those  follow 
ing  the  years  1854,  1873,  1882,  and  1892.  The  recent 
panic  could  not  fail  to  bring  in  its  train  the  usual  lack 
of  work  and  consequent  decrease  in  immigration;  but 
the  recovery  has  already  set  in. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  great  number  of  immigrants 
which  is  disquieting;  neither  the  room  nor,  usually,  the 
work  is  lacking.  The  difficulty  lies  in  the  origin  and 
extraction  of  the  present  day  immigrants.  Formerly 
the  great  majority  were  of  the  same  races  as,  or  similar 
to,  those  of  the  first  colonists;  they  came  from  England, 
Scotland,  Ireland,  the  Scandinavian  countries,  Ger 
many,  or  France;  they  differed  but  slightly  from  the 
Americans  in  character,  customs,  and  ideals,  and  were 
therefore  easy  to  assimilate  rapidly.  In  1906,  67  per 
cent  belonged  to  races  occupying  the  southeast  of  Eu 
rope,  even  Asia  Minor.  Whereas  southern  Italians 
represented  22  per  cent  of  this  total,  and  Jews  (almost 
all  from  Russia)  14  per  cent,  the  percentage  of  Ger 
mans  had  fallen  to  8,  that  of  Scandinavians  to  5,  and 
of  the  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  together  to  9.3.  The 
official  statistics  for  this  same  year  gave  408,903  indi 
viduals  of  Slavonic  race;  283,540  of  Iberian;  213,904 
of  Teutonic,  and  1 1 6,454  °f  Celtic.  In  the  first 
division  all  coming  from  the  east  of  Europe  are  in- 

*One  must  nevertheless  take  into  account  that  during  this  same  year, 
1907,  about  310,000  foreigners  of  whom  two- thirds  were  immigrants, 
left  the  United  States.  The  increase  by  immigration  is  consequently 
brought  back  to  1,075,000. 


AMERICA   ON    BOARD  9 

eluded,  even  the  Jews;  in  the  second,  those  coming 
from  the  south  (Portugal,  Spain,  southern  Italy, 
Greece,  and  Syria) ;  in  the  third,  those  from  northern 
Europe  and  England;  in  the  fourth,  the  people  of  Ire 
land,  Scotland,  Wales,  France,  and  northern  Italy. 
To  these  must  be  added  61,795  individuals  of  other 
races:  Hispano- Americans,  Turks,  Armenians,  Chinese, 
Japanese,  and  negroes. 

And  not  only  are  the  immigrants  recruited  principally 
from  second-rate  countries,  but  from  the  least  desirable 
elements  in  these  countries.  Formerly  the  north  and 
west  of  Europe  sent  to  the  United  States  a  select  num 
ber  of  ambitious  men,  eager  for  more  progress  and 
greater  liberty;  at  present,  the  south  and  east  send 
out  men,  a  large  part  of  whom  are  ignorant,*  discon 
tented,  and  miserable,  knowing  not  what  will  become 
of  them,  and  most  of  whom  are  enrolled  like  a  flock  of 
sheep  by  different  transport  agencies.  The  Govern 
ment  at  Washington  has  indeed  ordered  the  steamship 
companies  to  post  the  immigration  laws  in  their  offices, 
and  has  also  put  a  stop  to  any  advertising  other  than 
the  announcement  of  sailings  and  conditions  of  immi 
gration;  and  Congress,  in  the  new  Immigration  Act  of 
February  20,  1907,  has  increased  the  severity  of  the 
measures  excluding  foreigners  brought  over  by  labor 
contracts^  more  or  less  explicit,  and  has  extended  this 
exclusion  to  those  whose  passage  was  paid  by  any  asso 
ciation,  municipality,  or  government.  But  all  these 

*The  number  of  illiterate  persons  received  in  1907  was  337,573 ; 
and  of  the  remainder  5,829  could  read,  but  not  write. 


10       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

measures  prove  insufficient.  At  present,  in  order  to 
render  them  efficacious,  it  is  under  consideration  either 
to  increase  the  penalties  against  delinquent  companies, 
to  institute  American  inspectors  at  all  the  ports  of  em 
barkation,  or,  with  a  view  to  other  remedies,  to  convoke 
an  international  conference.  In  the  meantime  the  new 
comers  are  examined  as  strictly  as  possible.  But  how 
can  crowds  often  numbering  more  than  five  thousand 
a  day  be  properly  dealt  with?  Sometimes  twenty 
thousand  immigrants  may  be  seen  at  one  time  awaiting 
the  medical  examination.  In  1907  no  less  than  13,064 
were  refused  admittance  as  against  12,432  in  1906; 
and  all  these,  feeble  in  mind  or  in  body,  should  have 
been  sent  back  to  their  own  countries  at  the  expense 
of  the  companies  who  brought  them  over.  But  a  great 
many  of  them,  driven  from  New  York,  seek  to  evade 
the  law  by  entering  across  the  immense  frontiers  of 
Canada  and  Mexico,  which  are  more  difficult  of  super 
vision,  the  latter  especially,  than  the  seaports. 

Even  were  this  throng  to  be  distributed  normally 
over  the  whole  country,  the  service  they  could  render 
certain  districts  would  compensate  for  the  perils  with 
which  they  threaten  the  whole.  But  neither  the 
Southern  nor  the  Western  States,  which  are  short  of 
labor  hands,  receive  more  than  4  per  cent  of  the  total 
immigration;  22  per  cent  go  to  the  Middle  West;  while 
68  per  cent  remain  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  of  which 
half  stay  in  the  somewhat  over-populated  State  of 
New  York.  These  percentages  are  those  of  the  fiscal 


AMERICA  ON    BOARD  n 

year  1905-1906.  In  1906-1907,  386,244  immigrants 
gave  New  York  State  as  their  destination;  230,906 
gave  Pennsylvania;  104,156,  Illinois;  85,583,  Massa 
chusetts;  and  70,665,  New  Jersey. 

To  this  irregular  distribution  is  due  the  greatest  dis 
advantage  of  immigration,  namely  the  congestion  of 
the  foreign  element  in  the  big  cities,  as  in  New  York, 
Chicago,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  and  its  isolation 
there  in  certain  quarters,  thus  forming  a  sort  of  colony, 
difficult  for  the  American  influence  to  penetrate.* 
Everything  possible  is  being  done,  however,  to  remedy 
this  evil,  through  an  office  established  in  New  York, 
whose  business  it  is  to  direct  the  newcomers  to  those 
districts  where  they  can  make  themselves  most  useful 
and  will  find  the  greatest  demand  for  labor. 

How  is  it  possible  to  assimilate  such  multitudes'? 
And  will  not  the  United  States  under  this  barbarian 
invasion  compromise  their  civilization,  or  at  least  lose 
their  characteristics?  This  is  one  of  the  first  questions 
I  put  to  the  Americans  on  board,  but  they  seemed  in 
no  way  moved  by  the  consideration. 

"We  need  more  labor  hands,"  they  reply,  "espe 
cially  in  the  South  and  out  West,  and  there  is  still 
room  for  the  newcomers.  We  owe  to  immigration 
alone  the  fact  that  we  have  become  the  most  populous 

*Apropos  of  this  distribution,  some  interest  may  be  attached  to  the 
fact  that  the  9,731  French  admitted  in  1907  settled  principally  in  the 
States  of  New  York  and  California.  The  Japanese  generally  stop  in 
Hawaii,  California,  Washington,  and  Oregon.  The  Jews  usually 
choose  the  big  eastern  cities. 


12       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

nation  after  China  and  Russia,  and  we  don't  compare 
ourselves  with  them !  Were  we  now  to  be  reduced  to 
our  own  resources  we  should  see  Canada,  Argentina, 
and  Brazil  gaining  on  us  at  our  expense;  and  our  indus 
trial,  commercial,  and  agricultural  development  would 
advance  so  slowly  as  to  amount  practically  to  a  falling 
off. 

If  it  is  true  that  many  immigrants  do  not  succeed 
in  amalgamating  with  us,  their  children,  or  at  least 
their  grandchildren  do.  Above  all,  the  very  patriotic 
teachings  of  our  schools,  and  also  the  influence  of  the 
churches,  tend  to  Americanize  them  quickly.  Fur 
thermore,  we  have  observed  that  the  crossing  of  the 
white  races  is  very  favorable  to  the  progress  of  the 
species:  the  children  are  larger,  stronger,  and  more  in 
telligent  than  their  parents;  they  form  a  sort  of  new 
race  uniting  the  qualities  of  both."  And  the  way  has 
been  opened  to  an  enthusiastic  vindication  of  the 
United  States. 

In  sooth,  I  really  believe,  the  danger  is  not  so  great 
as  might  be  imagined.  Enormous  as  is  the  annual 
immigration,  it  amounts  to  only  one-eightieth  of  the 
total  population,  and  the  foreign-born  are  but  as  one 
in  six  to  the  native-born.*  Only  a  few,  when  they 
arrive,  are  beyond  the  age  when  they  can  adopt  new 
customs;  and  quite  a  number,  one-eighth,  are  children 
under  fourteen  who  will  retain  hardly  anything  of  their 
origin.  Finally  in  this,  as  in  everything,  the  invincible 
optimism  of  Americans  is  manifest:  if  immigration 

*In  1900  they  numbered  10,460,085  as  against  65,843,302. 


AMERICA  ON    BOARD  13 

increases  too  fast  and  becomes  a  real  danger,  it  can 
always  be  restricted,  or,  if  necessary,  put  a  stop  to.* 

I  discuss  very  freely  this  and  several  other  problems 
with  my  fellow  passengers.  At  the  end  of  two  or  three 
days  a  fine  spirit  of  comradeship  is  established  among 
us,  I  might  almost  say  a  family  spirit.  There  is  no 
German  heaviness,  nor  English  stiffness,  none  of  that 
class  feeling  that  is  always  present  among  a  group  of 
Frenchmen,  nor  any  of  the  haughtiness  nor  magnificent 
indifference  of  the  ultra  rich  of  the  New  World.  These 
would  disdain  the  Holland- American  Line;  there  is 
nothing  lacking  to  render  the  voyage  comfortable  and 
agreeable,  but  neither  is  there  any  social  distinction 
gained  in  travelling  by  it,  as  it  does  not  publish  the  list 
of  passengers  in  the  newspapers.  Although  liberal  with 
their  money  (as  was  evidenced  by  the  collection  taken 
up  at  the  concert  given  for  the  benefit  of  life-savers) 
the  passengers  of  the  No  or  dam  nevertheless  prefer  the 
substantial  to  the  tawdry.  We  are  here  face  to  face 
with  good,  average  Americans,  a  class  but  little  known 
abroad  and  therefore  all  the  more  instructive.  One 
notices  with  pleasure,  what  indeed  one  might  expect, 
but  which  cannot  be  gleaned  from  books,  that  all 


*The  ages  of  the  1,285,349  immigrants  for  1907  fall  into  the 
following  divisions:  138,344  under  14;  1,100,771  between  14  and  44; 
46,234  over  44.  Other  details  of  the  statistics  may  offer  some  interest. 
The  immense  majority,  1,135,551,  arrive  from  Europe.  The  males 
number  929,976,  the  females  355,373:  873,923  persons  possess  or  declare 
only  $50,  and  107,502  have  more.  The  arrivals  are  most  numerous 
in  May,  April,  March,  and  June;  and  fewest  in  January,  February, 
August,  and  July  (maximum  in  May,  1509,27;  minimum  in  January, 
51,127). 


14       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Americans  are  not  nervous  and  eccentric,  nor  even 
millionaires. 

Among  them  are  some  excellent  folk  who  have  been 
to  Europe  for  a  holiday  and  do  not  attempt  to  disguise 
their  delight  at  getting  home  again.  I  see  families 
whose  members  do  not  treat  one  another  like  strangers, 
children  who  come  to  kiss  their  father  good-night,  girls 
talking  with  their  mothers.  I  see  a  touching  group  of 
four  grown  sisters  between  twenty  and  thirty-five  years 
of  age,  a  brother  of  thirty,  and  a  mother  of  sixty,  all 
six  almost  inseparable.  The  father  died  a  year  ago;  his 
widow,  unable  to  overcome  her  grief,  was  sent  to 
Europe  by  her  physician.  She  passed  the  winter  in 
Florence  with  her  four  daughters;  in  the  month  of  May 
the  son,  an  architect,  left  Paris  to  join  them  and  to 
gether  they  visited  Rome,  Venice,  and  the  Italian  Lakes. 
They  are  returning  home  with  great  emotion,  and  the 
children  are  wondering  how  the  return  to  the  house  of 
mourning  will  affect  their  mother.  They  talk  to  her 
of  their  married  brother  who  remained  at  home,  and  of 
his  little  family  all  of  whom  they  will  be  so  glad  to  see 
again. 

On  my  right  at  table  is  a  woman  from  Sioux  City 
whose  health  obliged  her  to  go  to  Europe  —  less  of  an 
undertaking  for  Americans  than  a  trip  to  Nice  would  be 
to  us.  This  excellent  lady,  who  passed  the  winter  in 
Dresden,  talks  of  nothing  but  her  husband  and  German 
music,  which  does  not  tend  to  make  her  conversation 
exciting. 

On  my  left  is  an  old  lawyer  from  Detroit,  who  goes 


AMERICA   ON    BOARD  15 

to  Holland  every  year  for  his  holiday.  I  inquire  if 
he  was  born  there  or  has  any  relations  there;  he  says  no, 
but  it  is  so  restful,  the  double  crossing  and  three  weeks 
relaxation  in  the  good  Dutch  calm.  I  am  ashamed, 
when  with  him,  not  to  know  Holland,  and  to  have  been 
all  around  it  without  ever  going  in,  and  I  promise  him 
to  repair  this  omission.  And,  in  truth,  the  officers,  the 
sailors,  and  the  servants  of  the  Noordam  all  look  so 
good,  so  calm !  I  recall  the  comic  illustration  depicting 
an  unfortunate  man  drowning  in  one  of  the  canals  at 
The  Hague,  and  calling,  "  Help !  Help !  I  can't  swim !  " 
while  a  passerby  on  the  quay  placidly  replies,  "  Well, 
no  more  can  I,  but  I  don't  cry  it  from  the  housetops! " 

My  friend  the  lawyer  brings  a  copy  of  tfhe  Detroit 
News  with  him  to  every  meal  and  reads  it  with  as  much 
zest  as  though  it  had  just  appeared.  I  never  fail  to 
ask  him  what  is  the  latest  news  and  to  this  oft-repeated 
question  he  always  replies  by  laughing  good-humoredly 
and  showing  me  some  interesting  paragraph.  He 
dwells,  for  instance,  on  such  examples  of  extravagant 
language  as  "The  biggest  building  in  the  world,  a 
church  which  will  surpass  all  those  of  Europe,"  or 
"  the  largest  hospital  in  the  world,  a  colossal  bequest." 
The  first  heading  applies  to  Bishop  Satterlee's  plan  to 
build  a  cathedral  in  Washington  to  cost  two  million 
dollars  and  accommodate  four  thousand  of  the  faith 
ful,  while  the  second  heading  refers  to  a  bequest  of 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  found  near  Detroit 
a  hospital  of  one  hundred  beds. 

"  These  reporter  fellows  have  never  travelled,"  says 


16       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

my  neighbor,  sententiously ;  "  they  exaggerate  every 
thing;  they  spoil  public  opinion  and  cultivate  foolish 
pride." 

He  is  religious  and  a  member  of  the  vestry  of  his 
Episcopal  Church.  He  acknowledges  spontaneously 
that  the  Catholic  Church  seems  to  be  the  best,  "  but," 
he  adds,  "I  stay  where  God  put  me.  Besides,  the 
world  is  hard  to  explain, —  let  us  make  the  best  of  to 
day,  and  let  the  future  take  care  of  itself." 

And  that  he  himself  does  his  best  is  what  was  proved 
to  me,  without  his  realizing  it,  by  a  story  he  told  me  one 
day  when  we  were  talking  about  the  Japanese.  "  They 
are  a  people  with  strong  qualities,"  said  he,  "  and  no 
tably  with  a  great  deal  of  family  spirit.  A  little 
eighteen-year-old  Jap  came  to  Detroit  to  take  the 
course  at  the  Agricultural  Institute  there ;  but  his  father 
lost  his  place  and  was  no  longer  able  to  send  the  boy 
the  small  sum  necessary  to  pay  his  board  and  tuition. 
So  in  order  to  earn  it,  he  worked  at  ten  cents  an  hour 
on  the  farm  belonging  to  the  Institute.  As  I  happened 
to  hear  of  this,  I  sent  for  him  to  see  what  he  was  worth, 
and  I  found  he  deserved  being  looked  out  for.  '  You 
must  not/  I  explained  to  him,  '  lose  half  your  time  at 
this  manual  labor.  Here  is  enough  to  pay  your  year's 
schooling.'  The  little  Jap  hung  his  head  and  declined 
it,  saying:  'I  can't  contract  debts  in  my  father's  name, 
and  I  have  nothing  of  my  own.'  '  It  is  not  a  question 
of  your  father,'  I  replied;  '  take  it,  anyway,  and  we  '11 
see  later  on.'  When  he  finished  his  course,  I  found 
him  a  place,  and  soon  he  brought  me  some  money,  say- 


AMERICA   ON    BOARD  17 

ing  he  would  pay  the  rest  later.  I  told  him  to  put  what 
he  had  in  the  savings  bank.  At  the  end  of  a  year  he 
came  back  with  the  whole  amount  he  owed  me.  '  Here 
is  your  money,'  he  said.  '  My  father  has  written  me  to 
come  home,  and  as  soon  as  I  have  earned  the  money 
for  the  trip  I  shall  go.'  '  Keep  it,  my  boy,'  said  I,  '  I 
always  intended  to  give  it  to  you;  and  then  you  won't 
have  to  postpone  your  departure.'  '  Oh,  how  delighted 
my  father  will  be,'  he  exclaimed,  and  departed  full  of 
gratitude;  and  he  has  always  remained  attached  to 
me.  He  writes  to  me  sometimes,  and  always  welcomes 
any  of  my  friends  who  go  to  Japan.  His  father,  al 
ways  his  father!  That  is  their  family  spirit."  And 
there,  I  would  have  liked  to  add,  there  is  also  the  good 
American  spirit :  help  those  who  deserve  help,  and  up 
hold  those  who  will  later  be  able  to  walk  alone. 

My  lawyer  is  not,  however,  the  "prominent  citizen" 
on  board,  neither  is  it  his  friend,  a  handsome  old  man 
from  Detroit,  whose  martial  air  leads  me  to  address 
him  as  Colonel,  and  who  accepts  the  title  quite  seri 
ously,  for  indeed  I  have  hit  it  right;  he  wears  the 
medal,  or  rather  the  button  of  the  Grand  Army.  I  am 
so  sorry  not  to  have  called  him  General ;  but  it  was  my 
first  experience  in  naming  him. 

Our  prominent  citizens  are  the  old  doctor  H.  W. 
and  the  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Mr.  X.,  both  from  New 
York.  It  is  they  who  will  be  asked  to  speak  at  the 
Fourth  of  July  celebration. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  X.  is  travelling  with  his  rather  delicate 
wife  and  three  very  healthy  daughters  (I  have  hardly. 


i8       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

ever  seen  a  clergyman  travelling  without  three  daugh 
ters)  .  Probably  he  leaves  three  boys  home  at  school ! 
Our  reverend  friend  is  a  most  distinguished  man,  a 
large  and  handsome  American,  always  affable  and 
filled  with  the  joy  of  living,  caring  less  for  dogma 
than  for  morality,  for  theory  than  for  good  works.  He 
is  very  kindly  disposed  toward  Catholicism,  and  he 
would  be  put  to  it  to  explain  why  he  is  an  Episco 
palian.  Rome,  which  he  has  just  visited,  interests  him 
extremely,  and  Pius  X  strikes  him  as  a  most  venerable 
Pope  of  broad  ideas. 

Dr.  H.  W.  is  quite  another  sort  of  man.  Born  of 
Irish  parents,  he  has  the  Celt's  facility  of  speech. 
Every  day  for  hours  and  hours,  seven  or  eight  without 
exaggeration,  in  fact  all  the  time  that  is  not  spent  in 
eating  or  sleeping,  he  holds  forth  in  the  smoking  room 
to  three  young  doctors  and  the  clergyman.  He  touches 
on  all  subjects  —  politics,  jokes,  religion,  and  every 
thing  else.  I  often  join  the  little  circle,  which  proves 
an  excellent  Berlitz  School  for  me.  Dr.  H.  W.  is  a  fer 
vent  Catholic,  "  catholique  enrage  "  as  he  tells  me  in  my 
own  language,  which  he  speaks  very  fluently.  I  leave 
it  to  the  imagination  how  he  gets  the  better  of  the 
clergyman  in  theology  and  Church  history.  One  of  the 
three  young  doctors,  who  is  rather  naively  a  materialist, 
gets  snubbed  each  time  he  tries  to  air  his  opinions. 
When  the  old  Doctor  has  reduced  all  his  other 
adversaries  to  silence,  he  falls  on  me,  whom  he  accuses 
of  being  a  heretic,  so  I  have  named  him  Tor- 
quemada,  which  does  not  keep  him  from  liking  me 


AMERICA  ON    BOARD  19 

very  much  and  offering  me  drinks  to  quench  his 
autos-da-fe.* 

America,  whose  very  name  makes  his  heart  beat  and 
his  eyes  shine,  is  nevertheless  handled  no  more  gently 
than  are  we.  "Business  is  too  good,"  said  he,  as 
though  feeling  a  presentiment  of  the  panic  which  was 
to  break  out  four  months  later.  "The  continual  pros 
perity  of  our  country  is  becoming  an  obstacle  to  its 
moral  development.  The  man  who  is  splendidly 
healthy  and  who  succeeds  in  everything  has  no  thought 
for  another  world  and  a  future  life;  this  world  and 
his  present  life  fulfil  all  his  desires.  But  when 
trouble,  ruin,  illness,  or  the  death  of  his  loved  ones 
befalls  him,  he  begins  to  reflect,  and  he  realizes  the 
insufficiency  and  the  instability  of  human  things,  and 
turns  his  thoughts  toward  God  and  the  hereafter.  So 
it  is  with  the  United  States.  They  need  a  trial  to  raise 
them  out  of  their  material  preoccupation  and  their 
pride." 

I  risk  suggesting  in  a  half  bantering,  half  serious 
tone  that  perhaps  Japan  will  furnish  them  with  this 
trial.  I  add,  not  only  to  extenuate  my  somewhat  un 
toward  jest,  but  because  I  really  think  so,  that  were  the 
Japs  so  foolish  as  to  attack  America,  they  would  no 
doubt  be  beaten  in  the  end,  but  still  they  might  easily 
win  the  first  throw;  and,  thanks  to  a  recent  article  in 
the  Correspondant  on  the  navies  of  the  two  countries, 
I  can  uphold  this  theory  so  competently  that  I  am  sur- 

*It  goes  without  saying  that  I  do  not  mean  that  all  the  clergymen 
and  doctors  of  America  are  like  the  two  I  have  just  described. 


20       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

prised  at  myself.  It  makes  it  none  the  more  welcome. 
Good  gracious!  The  United  States  even  momentarily 
defeated  by  little  Japan !  What  am  I  thinking  about? 
The  United  States  with  its  immense  resources,  with  its 
patriotism,  with  the  energy  that  would  at  once  be 
centred  on  turning  out  men  of  war,  cannons,  etc.! 
Poor  little  Japs !  And  poor  little  me  for  having  dared 
to  suggest  such  a  supposition  even  in  jest! 

With  the  idea  of  a  war,  perhaps  in  the  near  future, 
between  the  east  and  west  coasts  of  the  Pacific,  an 
idea  formed  in  Europe  but  which  will  grow  more  vague 
as  my  sojourn  in  America  is  prolonged,  I  note,  not 
without  uneasiness,  the  presumption  of  my  American 
friends.  At  the  next  meal  I  open  my  mind  to  the  grave 
lawyer  from  Detroit,  who  does  not  mix  with  our  Ber 
litz  School,  and  he  gives  an  opinion  which  will  be  con 
firmed  by  almost  everything  that  I  learn  during  my 
trip.  "  War  would  be  too  absurd  "  —  I  give  the  sub 
stance  of  his  words  —  "a  Government  so  balanced  as 
that  of  Japan,  and  such  conscientious  men  as  Roose 
velt  and  Taft,  will  never  let  the  two  countries  get 
embroiled  in  such  murderous  and  futile  folly.  The 
Japanese  have  before  them  Corea  and  Manchuria, 
which  should  suffice  for  their  expansion,  so  that  they 
have  no  need  to  send  their  workmen  to  America.  They 
must  understand  that  the  United  States  cannot,  in 
reason,  permit  the  competition  of  such  cheap  labor;  it 
would  be  the  material  ruin  and  the  moral  degeneracy 
of  our  working  classes."  The  last  reasons,  which  are 
none  too  obvious,  prevent  me  from  being  completely 


AMERICA  ON    BOARD  21 

reassured.  I  reflect  on  the  pride  of  the  two  peoples, 
and  I  wonder  which  of  them  would  put  up  with  an 
insult  —  even  though  merely  apparent,  or  quite  acci 
dental —  to  their  country's  flag.  And  who  shall  say 
that  with  the  constant  clashes  brought  about  by  the 
presence  of  the  Japanese  in  California  and  the  position 
taken  by  the  State  government  toward  them  such  an 
incident  might  not  occur  at  San  Francisco,  or,  as  a 
counter-blow,  in  Yokohama4?* 

The  American  flag  insulted,  no  matter  in  what  quar 
ter  of  the  globe,  the  entire  nation  would  arise  quivering 
and  unappeasable,  to  avenge  the  affront  to  the  Stars 
and  Stripes. 

How  we  did  celebrate  that  glorious  flag  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  anniversary  of  Inde 
pendence  !  The  day  dawned  radiant  over  a  sea  of  ab 
solute  calm;  and  at  ten  o'clock  the  1,528  passengers 
assembled  with  the  crew  on  the  broad  third-class  deck, 
while  the  band  strikes  up  the  Star  Spangled  Banner, 
and,  greeted  with  cheers  and  acclamation,  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  is  run  up  the  main-mast.  When  it  is  seen 
streaming  high  above  us  in  the  blue,  the  crowd  becomes 
almost  delirious  with  emotion,  and  the  Rev.  X.,  who 
has  been  deputed  to  conduct  the  celebration,  must  wait 
some  time  before  quiet  is  restored.  At  last  he  speaks, 
and  his  fine  voice,  which  easily  drowns  the  subdued 
murmur  of  the  waves,  relates  the  national  glories,  and 
especially  those  of  the  War  of  Independence.  He  re- 

*Other  occasions  will  be  afforded  for  discussing  the  Japanese  ques 
tion  at  greater  length.  (Cf.  Chaps.  VIII  and  XIII.) 


22       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

calls  the  goodness  of  God  toward  the  United  States, 
and  he  prays  to  Him  to  continue  to  watch  over  them 
and  to  raise  up  to  them  in  the  future  great  leaders  as 
were  Washington  and  Lincoln  in  the  past,  and  as  is 
Theodore  Roosevelt  in  the  present.  The  enthusiasm 
grows  still  greater,  and  when  he  has  finished  speaking, 
the  clamor  of  it  almost  drowns  the  imposing  notes  of 
the  anthem,  "My  country,  3t  is  of  thee." 

When  silence  is  restored,  Dr.  H.  W.  in  his  turn 
mounts  the  platform,  and,  dominating  by  his  great 
stature  and  his  sonorous  voice  both  the  crowd  and  the 
sea,  he  proceeds  to  make  the  speech  of  the  day.  He  is 
listened  to,  he  can  be  heard,  as  in  a  church;  and  his 
long  prophet's  beard  and  Biblical  citations  carry  out 
the  religious  impression.  He  speaks  of  Moses  and  the 
Exodus,  he  points  to  the  emigrants,  there  far  off  in 
the  West,  the  Promised  Land  toward  which  our  ship 
is  bearing  us,  and  where  they  themselves  will  become 
the  Chosen  People.  For  a  moment  he  speaks  especially 
to  the  Jews,  so  numerous  amongst  us,  and  recalls  to 
them  in  Hebrew  the  promises  of  Jehovah,  but  in  gen 
eral  he  addresses  himself  to  the  people  of  all  the  na 
tionalities  represented  before  him,  and  to  them  he 
glorifies  "the  superior  race,  made  from  the  marrow  of 
the  others,  a  powerful  synthesis  of  human  energies, 
amongst  whom  they  now  hold  a  place,  the  new  and 
kindly  country  which  is  opening  her  arms  to  welcome 
them,  the  great  nation,  the  first  in  the  world,  who 
will  make  them  her  citizens." 

Some  understand  the  sense  of  the  words,  but  all 


AMERICA  ON    BOARD  23 

understand  the  meaning  of  the  voice  and  the  gesture, 
and  rays  of  hope,  and  beams  of  pride  illumine  the  at 
tentive  faces,  the  passionate  glances  of  these  oppressed 
and  miserable  beings  who  believe  they  have  reached 
the  end  of  their  troubles.  When  the  speech  is  finished, 
it  is  they  this  time  who  applaud  the  most  heartily,  and 
who  stretch  their  arms  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm 
toward  the  Flag  of  the  Republic  floating  alone  in  the 
heavens  above  the  barren  ocean,  the  Flag  of  the  Free : 

"  Flag  of  the  free,  all  hail  to  thee ! 
Floating  the  fairest  on  ocean  or  shore. 
Loud  ring  the  cry !  ne'er  let  it  die ! 
Union  and  Liberty,  now  evermore." 

After  this,  the  most  solemn  demonstration  of  the 
day,  the  passengers  return  to  their  different  classes. 
Once  more  on  deck  we  still  hear  beautiful  voices  of 
women  singing  the  national  anthems,  after  which,  ex 
cept  for  the  reciprocal  compliments  on  the  colors  of 
flags  that  each  one  is  sporting,  there  is  no  further  ques 
tion  of  the  anniversary  until  the  middle  of  the  after 
noon.  Then  began  the  games,  the  hurdling  and  the 
amusing  races  which  the  young  men  and  girls  had 
organized.  A  committee  had  spontaneously  sprung  up 
which  had  taken  the  name  of  Mid  Ocean  Athletic  As 
sociation.  They  had  asked  the  ladies  to  give  prizes 
and  had  sold  programmes  to  the  men.  They  had 
entered  the  names  of  all  the  competitors.  I  had  to 
inscribe  myself  for  several  numbers  without  much 
understanding  in  what  they  consisted.  But  how  could 
I  resist?  "Father,  I  may  put  you  down  for  the  three- 


24       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

legged  race,  may  I  not*?  —  for  the  potato-race*?  —  to 
draw  the  pig's  eye?  —  for  the  sack-race?"  I  de 
murred.  "But  every  one  is  entering.  Everybody  in 
the  world ! "  So  I  inscribe  myself,  but  they  had  the 
good  grace  not  to  hold  me  to  all  my  engagements.  The 
three-legged  race  especially  would  have  somewhat  em 
barrassed  me !  In  short,  I  was  one  of  those  who,  blind 
folded,  tried  to  chalk-in  the  eye  of  the  big  animal  that 
had  been  drawn  on  the  deck.  I  did  not  win  the  prize, 
as  I  drew  the  eye  on  the  shoulder,  but  neither  was  I  the 
booby.  The  gayety  was  great,  and  one  passenger  made 
a  hit  by  suggesting  as  an  additional  amusement  that  we 
should  all  take  a  little  drive.  The  day  ended  with  an 
enormous  dinner,  many  illuminations,  and  a  dance. 

Decidedly,  the  glorious  Fourth  is  better  celebrated 
at  sea  than  on  the  continent,  where  it  is  the  terror  of 
peaceful  citizens.  The  firing  of  cannons  and  guns,  and 
the  fireworks,  not  only  drown  the  patriotic  harangues, 
but  they  cause  so  many  accidents  that  it  looks  as  though 
the  Americans  of  to-day  were  taking  vengeance  on 
themselves  for  their  enemies  of  yore,  and  according 
to  some  calculations,  the  winning  of  their  independence 
cost  fewer  human  lives  than  have  been  sacrificed  during 
the  last  twenty  years  to  its  commemoration. 

This  is  what  a  Chicago  lady  tells  me  with  horror, 
she  alone  having  abstained  from  taking  any  part  in  our 
celebration.  I  ask  her  politely  if  she  is  ill ;  she  says  no, 
but  all  these  follies  disgust  her,  besides  which,  she  is  too 
sad  at  leaving  Paris,  its  museums,  its  theatres,  and  its 
shops.  "Fortunately,"  says  she,  "one  can  bring  along 


AMERICA    ON    BOARD  25 

something  to  read,"  and  she  shows  me  a  stock  of  novels. 
She  bewails  the  coarseness  of  her  compatriots  and  the 
misfortune  of  the  chosen  spirits  lost  in  a  society  quite 
incapable  of  understanding  them.  She  is  happy  to 
meet  a  Frenchman  with  whom  she  can  talk,  and  she 
discourses  at  length  on  our  arts,  our  literature,  and  our 
amusements.  But  I  do  not  feel  equal  to  it,  for  I  know 
nothing  of  what  she  knows,  nor  is  she  acquainted  with 
what  I  have  learned  or  seen;  so  I  yield  to  the  tempta 
tion  of  making  fun  of  her,  and  she  does  not  even 
discover  it.  At  last  quite  tired  out,  I  tell  her  clearly 
and  distinctly  that  I  am  very  fond  of  America;  and 
then  I  go  to  my  Berlitz  School,  where  Dr.  H.  W.  is 
telling  the  politely  resigned  Rev.  Mr.  X.  the  true  story 
of  the  Inquisition. 


CHAPTER  II 

IN  NEW  YORK  AND  BY  THE  GREAT  LAKES 
NIGHT  SCHOOLS  AND  SUMMER  SCHOOLS 

MY    "SEMINARIST'S"    5,000   MILES  —  MELANCHOLY 

QUICKLY  DISSIPATED AT  THE  PAULISTS';  FATHER 

MCMILLAN  A  YOUNG  HIGH  SCHOOL  GIRL VISIT 
ING  ON  BOARD  TRAIN EVENING  SCHOOLS:  75  PER 

CENT    OF    STUDENTS    JEWS THE    CATHOLIC    SUM 
MER      SCHOOL COMEDY,       CAMPING,       BASE-BALL, 

LECTURE,  AND  SUPPER ON  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  AND 

AND    LAKE    GEORGE IN    THE    LAND    OF    THE    MO 
HICANS. 

rip  HOSE  readers  who  have  not  been  discouraged  by 
•*•  my  first  chapter  deserve  to  be  told  where  I  pur 
pose  to  lead  them.  If  my  plans  be  not  modified,  we 
shall  remain  as  little  as  possible  in  the  East,  which  I 
saw  four  years  ago;  we  shall  go  straight  to  Chautauqua, 
then  to  Chicago  to  take  part  in  the  Summer  School 
courses;  thence  we  shall  pay  a  visit  to  Archbishop  Ire 
land  and  Bishop  Spalding;  afterwards  we  shall  direct 
our  steps  toward  California,  stopping  off  in  Nebraska 
and  Colorado;  we  shall  go  from  San  Francisco  down 
to  Los  Angeles,  perhaps  by  sea;  through  Arizona  and 
Texas  we  shall  make  our  way  to  Louisiana,  and  we 

26 


NIGHT   AND   SUMMER   SCHOOLS   27 

shall  go  North,  either  overland  or  by  sea,  to  New  York 
and  Boston.  But  it  would  be  just  as  well  not  to  at 
tempt  to  remember  this  itinerary  too  exactly,  for  it  will 
be  greatly  changed  owing  to  motives  which  will  ap 
pear  all  in  good  time;  we  shall  visit  the  Northwest 
instead  of  the  Southeast,  western  Canada  instead  of 
Louisiana.  Furthermore,  the  present  volume,  fearful 
of  becoming  too  long,  will  stop  at  San  Francisco.  Yet 
throughout,  circumstances  have  not,  I  think,  treated 
us  too  badly,  for  "America  of  To-morrow"  is  prin 
cipally  that  part  which  we  shall  see  and  which  is  form 
ing  itself  along  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

At  any  rate  it  is  a  perspective  of  six  or  seven  thou 
sand  miles  over  the  highways  of  the  New  World.  I 
must  acknowledge  that  it  strongly  impresses  what  sur 
vives  of  the  seminarist  in  me,  which  from  time  to  time 
it  amuses  me  to  frighten.  I  should  be  very  sorry  were 
I  to  lose  this  vestige  of  the  seminarist,  as  it  adds  spice 
to  certain  experiences,  and  there  are  some  that  I  could 
not  carry  off  without  it.  How  useful  it  is  to  me,  for 
instance,  when  I  wish,  on  the  morning  of  our  landing, 
to  imagine  the  uneasiness  which  must  lay  hold  of  some 
of  the  newcomers!  The  sun  is  scarcely  risen,  I  have 
said  good-bye  to  my  fellow  passengers,  and  there  I  am 
all  alone  at  the  custom  house  among  the  officials,  before 
my  small  open  trunk,  without  friends,  and  hesitating 
even  what  address  to  give.  How  will  this  long  four 
months'  trip  turn  out"?  What  hours  of  indifference, 
of  fatigue,  of  regret,  perhaps  of  sickness,  far  from  my 
own  people,  far  from  everything!  My  heart  sinks, 


28       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

and  sadness  threatens  to  overwhelm  me.  What  must 
it  then  be  for  the  real  emigrant,  who  knows  not  whither 
he  will  go  nor  whether  he  will  earn  a  livelihood,  and  who 
sees  in  a  flash  all  the  certainties,  all  the  affection  he  has 
left  behind  to  seek  this  dark  unknown.  One  can  do 
what  one  will  with  the  imagination;  as  a  child  I  shed 
real  tears  in  playing  with  my  companions  at  being  the 
Babes  in  the  Wood,  and  it  was  with  unaffected  distress 
that  we  would  leave  the  shrubs  of  the  garden  that  had 
served  for  our  wild  forest.  Here  is  the  same  thing  hap 
pening,  and  the  seminarist  in  me  quails.  I  shake 
him  brusquely,  but  I  do  not  succeed  in  silencing  him  as 
quickly  as  I  would  wish.  All  along  the  only  half- 
awakened  streets  of  New  York,  even  as  far  as  my  lonely 
hotel  room  he  keeps  suggesting  to  my  mind  dark  and 
timorous  ideas.  I  now  know  what  I  wished  to  know : 
how  hard  it  is  to  land  alone  in  a  far-off  country. 
Nevertheless  it  is  a  little  game  that  I  will  not  try  again. 
I  have  done  with  melancholy!  I  have  just  arrived 
at  the  Paulists',  at  the  office  of  fke  Catholic  World 
where  several  letters  are  already  awaiting  me,  and 
which  is  to  be  my  headquarters.  There  they  recognize 
me,  they  welcome  me;  Father  John  Burke  embraces 
me .  "  What  room  have  you?  "  he  asks ;  I  name  my  hotel, 
and  am  showered  with  abuse  in  consequence.  How 
many  times  must  I  be  told  that  I  was  to  make  myself  at 
home  at  St.  Paul's?  At  that  moment  a  friend  comes 
to  take  Father  Burke  in  a  motor  on  a  hurried  errand,  so 
he  takes  me  with  him  to  the  hotel  to  give  up  my  room. 
"  Here,"  said  I,  "  is  an  instance  of  how  quickly  fortunes 


NIGHT   AND   SUMMER   SCHOOLS   29 

are  made  in  your  country.  I  land  at  six  in  the  morn 
ing,  quite  miserable;  and  at  half-past  nine  I  am  rolling 
around  in  a  motor! " 

Shortly  afterwards  I  was  summarily  installed  in  the 
belongings,  if  I  may  say  so,  of  a  Paulist  absent  on  a 
mission,  and  then  I  went  to  call  on  Father  Searle,  the 
General  Superior.  Father  Deshon  is  dead,  for  I  had 
come  four  years  ago,  just  in  time  to  salute  the  last 
survivor  of  the  founders  of  the  Society.  Poor  Father 
Deshon,  so  venerable,  so  kindly,  so  paternal!  It  is  a 
precious  remembrance  to  have  received  one  of  his  last 
benedictions.  His  successor  is  no  less  good,  no  less 
easy  to  love,  with  the  fine  simple  soul  of  a  great  savant 
and  a  devout  apostle.  How  comfortable  I  shall  be  in 
this  home  atmosphere,  enjoying  a  few  days'  breathing 
space  before  my  long  travels ! 

And  my  joy  increases  when  at  dinner  I  find  myself 
among  familiar  surroundings.  There  is  Father  John  J. 
Hughes,  who,  with  his  grave  attractive  smile,  is  assist 
ant  to  the  Superior  and  Parish  Rector,  the  favorite 
confessor  of  the  priests  of  New  York.*  Here  is  Father 
Powers,  looking  cold  and  timid,  bat  who  is  goodness 
and  kindness  personified,  and  whom  Father  Searle 
wishes  to  give  me  for  a  guide,  thinking  perhaps  it  may 
induce  him  to  unbend  a  bit ;  there  is  Father  Yunnan,  a 
winning  personality,  a  citizen  of  the  world,  born  in 
Egypt  or  in  India,  and  speaking  all  languages  well. 
Here  are  young  men  sparkling  with  roguishness  and 

*Father  John  Hughes  was  elected  General  Superior  in  the  month 
of  August,  1909. 


30       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

wit,  who  apply  themselves,  frequently  unsuccessfully, 
to  repressing  their  boyish  spirits;  here  are  old  men,  in 
dulgent,  holy,  detached,  who  keep  on  living  simply 
through  habit,  whose  thoughts  are  all  of  Heaven.  But 
most,  like  Father  Daly  and  Father  Conway,  are  in  the 
prime  of  life  and  activity,  uniting  in  a  rare  blend  gen 
tleness  and  firmness,  a  self-communing  spirit  with  easy 
manners,  men  who  are  real  monks,  but  of  New  York; 
true  Yankees,  but  of  the  monastery.  And  all  of  them 
so  frank,  so  upright,  so  unworldly,  all  clad  in  the  armor 
of  confidence  and  optimism  enjoined  by  the  Holy 
Scriptures  for  those  conquerors  of  souls  who  fight  with 
out  staff  or  scrip,  counting  on  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
human  nature,  and  exempt,  I  assure  you,  from  all 
doubts,  worries,  and  prejudices.  Such  they  are  wher 
ever  one  finds  them  —  at  Washington,  at  Lake  George, 
at  Chicago,  at  San  Francisco, —  the  finest  types  I  know 
of  faith  and  common  sense,  of  spiritual  life  and  human 
qualities,  of  American  energy  with  the  suavity  of 
Catholicism,  of  apostolic  zeal  with  a  sovereign  respect 
for  the  human  conscience.  Long  live  the  ancient  trunk 
of  the  Church  that  bears  after  two  thousand  years  such 
green  and  sturdy  shoots! 


I  will  spare  the  readers,  more  fortunate  than  I,  the 
visit  to  New  York  in  the  stifling  heat  of  early  July. 
Besides,  New  York  was  included  in  my  first  trip,  and  it 
matters  little  to  the  present  reader  that  I  suffocated 
there  for  four  days,  seeing  friends  and  arranging  my 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS   31 

departure  for  Chautauqua,  whose  school  had  asked  me 
to  lecture  there. 

Chautauqua  is  the  country,  it  is  two  degrees  farther 
north,  it  is  rather  high,  and  it  lies  on  the  banks  of  a 
lake,  all  so  many  reasons  for  hoping  to  find  it  cool 
there,  and  so  I  am  consoled  for  having  to  lecture,  and 
to  lecture  in  English.  Impatient  to  get  away,  I  take 
my  ticket  by  the  Erie  Railroad  on  Friday  noon  for 
Monday  morning.  On  Friday  evening  Father  Mc 
Millan,  whom  I  have  not  seen  before  as  he  was  in 
retreat,  comes  to  my  room,  shakes  both  my  hands,  and 
growls  out  a  hearty  welcome,  asks  my  plans  and  sub 
stitutes  his  own.  He  wishes  me  to  see  the  Catholic 
Summer  School  before  I  see  the  Protestant  one;  he 
wants  me  to  leave  Saturday  morning  for  Cliff  Haven  to 
the  north  of  Lake  Champlain,  near  Canada,  where  the 
courses  are  held;  to  go  down  on  Monday  to  the  country 
place  of  the  Paulists  on  Lake  George,  to  push  on  to 
Buffalo  on  Wednesday,  and  to  arrive  at  Chautauqua  on 
Thursday  evening,  lecture  there  on  Friday,  and  go  on 
the  same  evening  to  Chicago,  arriving  there  Saturday 
and  preaching  Sunday  morning  at  the  University.  A 
pretty  good  beginning  to  my  four  months  of  American 
life!  To  the  dismay  of  my  seminarist  self  I  accept 
this  rush  and  the  extra  five  hundred  miles  entailed. 
Father  McMillan  finds  it  quite  natural  I  should  do  so, 
and  does  not  so  much  as  congratulate  me.  Anyway,  I 
fear  I  should  have  wasted  my  time  had  I  attempted  any 
resistance.  No  one  can  resist  Father  McMillan  when 
he  has  taken  it  into  his  head  to  do  a  kind  deed  or  render 


32       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

a  service.  This  roly-poly  Irishman,  round  even  in  a 
moral  sense,  with  his  quiet  way  of  arranging  things  in 
the  way  he  knows  is  best,  is  a  man  worth  knowing.  It 
is  he  who  furnishes  me  with  information,  with  intro 
ductions,  who  arranges  my  days,  who  knows  the  persons 
to  see,  and  their  addresses,  what  arrangements  should 
be  made  —  in  short  who  takes  me  in  hand  and  rushes 
me  for  four  days  without  stopping  from  train  to  train, 
from  boat  to  boat,  from  house  to  house,  showing,  ex 
plaining  everything,  half  crabbedly,  half  smilingly,  in 
English  I  can  hardly  understand,  interspersed  with  bits 
of  French  horribly  pronounced — in  fine  the  most  de 
voted,  the  gayest,  the  most  picturesque  of  travelling 
companions. 

One  would  naturally  expect  such  a  man  to  be  known 
everywhere,  and  I  soon  discover  that  such  is  the  case. 
The  train  taking  us  to  Lake  Champlain  follows  the 
picturesque  banks  of  the  Hudson.  There  is  a  lovely 
view  of  this  American  Rhine  from  the  left  side,  but  all 
the  seats  there  are  occupied.  The  American  cars  are 
divided  by  an  aisle  running  lengthwise  down  the  mid 
dle,  on  either  side  of  which  is  a  row  of  seats  for  two 
persons.  Father  McMillan  catches  sight  of  one  of  his 
Sunday  School  children  to  whom  he  presents  me,  and 
it  is  arranged  that  Miss  Marjorie  Ellis  shall  serve  as 
my  guide,  and  in  spite  of  my  deprecations,  give  me  her 
place  whenever  the  scenery  makes  it  worth  while. 
Soon  I  become  more  interested  in  her  than  in  the  Hud 
son.  She  is  sixteen  years  old,  a  young  girl,  but  still  a 
child,  frank  and  reasonable,  without  any  affectation  or 


NIGHT    AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS    33 

suggestion  of  coquetry,  keeping  to  her  own  way,  and 
already  sure  of  herself.  Her  father  is  Tenement  In 
spector  in  New  York,  which  is  but  an  insignificant  post. 
She  is  on  her  way  to  Albany  to  spend  a  month  with  rel 
atives  there.  She  is  an  excellent  type  of  the  progressive 
class  in  America.  She  is  fond  of  study,  and  is  carrying 
with  her  an  elocution  book  with  selections.  She  attended 
the  Catholic  primary  school  from  the  time  she  was 
seven  until  she  was  twelve;  from  twelve  to  fourteen  she 
was  at  a  public  school;  and  for  the  last  two  years  she 
has  been  at  a  high  school. 

The  curriculum  at  the  high  school  is  as  advanced 
as  at  our  best  pensionnats.  The  first  year  she  studied 
English,  Latin,  algebra,  botany,  biology,  music,  draw 
ing,  and  painting;  the  second  year,  English,  Latin, 
French,  history,  geometry,  and  the  same  arts  as  the 
preceding  year.  In  the  next  two  years  she  will  take 
more  advanced  courses  in  these  same  subjects,  plus 
chemistry.  She  could  have  elected  Greek  instead  of 
Latin,  and  German  instead  of  French.  She  already 
has  a  good  smattering  of  the  two  languages  she  is  study 
ing,  enough  to  remark  that  "there  are  a  great  many 
French  words  in  Latin,3'  and  is  much  amused  when  I 
point  out  to  her  that  the  contrary  is  rather  the  case. 
The  tuition  at  these  girls'  high  schools  is  quite  gratui 
tous,  and  the  scholars  enter  either  with  a  public  school 
diploma,  or  by  passing  an  examination. 

There  are  three  thousand  pupils  at  the  principal 
girls'  high  school  in  New  York  with  two  thousand 
more  in  an  annex.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  boys 


34       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

are  no  less  favored.  And  so  it  is  in  all  the  towns.  In 
a  word,  free  secondary  education,  which  to  us  seems 
so  Utopian,  is  of  common  practice  in  the  United 
States.* 

"All  that  is  excellent,"  said  I  to  Father  McMillan, 
"for  the  young  folks  who  have  their  time  free;  but 
what  about  those  who  have  to  work  for  a  living4?" 
"  For  them  there  are  the  evening  high  schools,"  he 
replied;  "and  if  it  would  interest  you,  we  will  go  and 
see  Dr.  Nicholson,  the  director  of  the  most  important 
one."  "With  the  greatest  of  pleasure;  but  when  and 
where  ?  "  I  asked.  "Why,  right  away,  in  the  train," 
he  answered ;  "  does  one  ever  wait  for  anything  in 
America?" 

"Oh,  but  first  look  at  Sing  Sing,"  cries  Marjorie 
Ellis,  and  delights  in  my  wonder  at  this  singular  name. 
Sing  Sing  is  the  pretty  little  town  where  the  most  cele 
brated  prison  of  the  State  of  New  York  is  situated. 
She  even  has  a  song  which,  with  bursts  of  laughter, 
she  repeats  to  me. 

Dear    Sing-Sing 
It  's  the  real,  real  thing! 
The  girls  and  the  boys 
They  are  treated  alike, 


*Cf.  "  In  the  Land  of  the  Strenuous  Life/'  Ch.  XVII,  on  the  Cen 
tral  High  School  of  Philadelphia,  and  Ch.  XIV  on  a  high  school  for 
negroes  in  Washington.  The  organization  of  regular  instruction 
(grammar  schools,  high  schools,  colleges,  and  universities)  is  there 
analyzed,  Ch.  XIV.  As  will  be  seen  especially  in  this  chapter  and 
the  following  one,  I  shall  this  time  treat  of  the  less  known  sides  of 
the  question,  speaking  a  little  of  the  night  schools  and  much  of  the 
summer  schools. 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS   35 

But  like  brothers  and  sisters 
They  all  have  their  fights. 
Dear  Sing-Sing, 
It 's  the  real,  real  thing !  " 

After  this  lesson  in  poetry,  Father  McMillan  takes 
me  to  Dr.  Nicholson,  whom  we  find  ensconced  in  a 
Turkish  smoking-room  in  company  with  four  or  five 
other  New  Yorkers.  When  everyone  has  been  intro 
duced,  as  though  we  were  in  town,  they  offer  us  cigars 
and  beer,  and  the  conversation,  after  a  few  sallies, 
settles  naturally  on  the  evening  high  schools.  I  tell 
of  what  great  interest  they  are  to  me,  especially  as  I  am 
so  intent  on  finding  out  how  America  can  assimilate, 
raise  and  civilize  the  million  barbarians  arriving  each 
year.  Dr.  Nicholson,  seeing  that  I  am  in  earnest,  gives 
me  much  information  on  the  spot,  and  invites  me  to 
come  to  see  his  school  on  my  return  to  New  York  in 
October.  I  did  not  fail  to  do  so,  but  with  the  permis 
sion  of  the  reader,  I  will  sacrifice  chronological  order 
to  that  of  the  ideas,  and  set  forth  now  what  I  learned 
later.  Nothing  brought  me  more  face  to  face  with 
the  power  of  education  in  the  United  States  than  this 
visit  to  Dr.  Nicholson's  school.  To  appreciate  it  all, 
one  should,  as  I  did,  see  it  pointed  out  and  hear  it  ex 
plained  on  the  spot,  rapidly,  soberly,  by  Dr.  John  J. 
Nicholson,  that  quintessence  of  clear  thought  and  pow 
erful  will,  the  man  overworked  but  calm,  obliging 
though  hurried,  the  true  American  raised  to  the  tenth 
power,  who  is  the  principal  of  the  Harlem  Evening 
High  School  for  men. 


36       AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

New  York  has  fourteen  of  these  evening  high 
schools,  most  of  them  open  to  both  sexes.  That  of  Dr. 
Nicholson  is  open  to  men  only,  but  it  is  the  largest  of 
all  and  enrolls  three  thousand  students  at  the  height  of 
the  school  year,  which  lasts  from  the  first  of  September 
to  the  first  of  May,  the  classes  taking  place  four  even 
ings  of  each  week.  On  the  second  of  October,  the  date 
of  my  visit,  two  thousand  were  already  enrolled.  Dr. 
Nicholson  takes  me  to  each  of  the  classes,  and  every  one 
I  see  seems  full,  nor  have  I  ever  come  across  more  at 
tentive  students.  All  are  wage-earners,  employees  or 
workmen,  but  all  are  in  what  with  us,  would  be  called 
Sunday  clothes,  such  clothes  as  are  donned  each  even 
ing  by  every  one  of  English  habits,  as  though  to  raise 
himself  for  the  time  being  above  material  preoccupa 
tions.  The  only  age  limit  for  the  school  is  that  of  a 
minimum  of  fourteen  years.  Some  are  grown  men, 
some  even  of  ripe  years,  but  the  majority  range  around 
twenty-one.  To  have  a  diploma  from  the  elementary 
classes  or  an  equivalent  certificate,  is  all  that  is  neces 
sary  to  enter  the  school.  The  subjects  taught  are  suf 
ficiently  numerous  and  various  for  each  to  find  what 
best  suits  his  aptitudes,  the  requirements  of  his  profes 
sion  or  the  ambitions  he  cherishes.  In  the  two  classes 
of  an  hour  each,  from  7 130  to  8 130  and  from  8 130  to 
9:30,  which  he  may  attend,  on  Monday,  Tuesday, 
Wednesday,  and  Thursday  of  each  week,  the  student 
may  elect,  according  to  the  stage  of  his  advancement, 
any  of  the  following  subjects:  English,  French,  Ger 
man,  Spanish,  Latin,  mathematics  (arithmetic,  alge- 


NIGHT    AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS    37 

bra,  and  geometry)  chemistry,  electricity,  physics, 
history,  political  economy,  bookkeeping,  commercial 
law,  shorthand  and  typewriting,  drawing,  mechanics, 
and  architecture.  It  is  the  city  which  pays  all  the  ex 
penses,  including  the  professors'  salaries,  and  furnishes 
the  laboratories  and  necessary  outfits.  The  best  stu 
dents  receive  prizes,  which  are  generously  given  by  the 
professors.  I  cannot  omit  one  extraordinary  detail :  after 
visiting  the  classes,  I  asked  Dr.  Nicholson  the  ethnolog 
ical  and  religious  composition  of  his  immense  school. 
He  inquired  of  his  colleagues  and,  himself  surprised  at 
the  result,  informed  me  that  75  per  cent  are  Jews.  We 
have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the  Jews  in 
New  York  reach  the  unique  total  of  800,000.  Their 
presence  at  this  high  school  speaks  eloquently  for  their 
desire  to  improve  themselves,  and  furnishes  a  clue  to 
their  success.  When  I  recall  the  miserable  aspect  of  the 
Oriental  Jews  who  crossed  on  our  ship,  and  realize 
that  their  children  will  resemble  the  trim  and  studious 
youths  of  this  school,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  see  before 
me  the  almost  automatic  process  of  the  phenomenon 
of  assimilation. 

But,  it  will  be  asked,  what  will  become  of  those 
adults,  too  ignorant  to  be  admitted  to  such  schools  as 
this  one,  and  yet  wishing  to  educate  themselves?  To 
them  are  open  the  primary  night  schools,  similar  to 
those  of  our  own  country,  but  differing  from  them  in 
that  the  majority  are  privately  endowed.  They  open, 
to  the  number  of  eighty- four,  during  the  last  days  of 
September,  just  at  the  time  of  my  return  to  New  York. 


38       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

All  the  newspapers  publish  the  list  of  schools  with  the 
addresses.  These  evening  elementary  schools  are  at 
tended  especially  by  immigrants  of  all  ages,  of  whom 
many  wish  above  all  to  learn  English.  It  may  be  that 
some  among  them,  like  the  old  negress  who,  a  Boston 
paper  says,  learns  to  read  each  winter  and  forgets  it 
each  summer, —  it  may  be,  I  say,  that  some  among 
them  do  not  derive  much  benefit,  but  the  greater  num 
ber  certainly  do,  and  acquire  there  an  education  that 
permits  them  better  to  gain  their  livelihood,  or  even 
to  attend  the  high  school.  At  Boston  also  the  pri 
mary  schools  open  during  my  visit  there  the  third 
week  in  October,  enrolling  twenty  thousand  scholars 
as  against  seventeen  thousand  the  preceding  year, 
scholars  of  both  sexes,  of  all  ages,  all  nationalities, 
all  races,  even  Greeks,  Russians,  Poles,  Turks,  Chinese, 
and  negroes. 

Mr.  Nicholson  shows  me  also  a  list  of  the  popular 
lectures  which  are  also  organized  by  the  city,  and  which 
are  given  every  Saturday  at  eight  o'clock  in  different 
quarters,  almost  always  accompanied  with  projections. 
The  following  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  given, 
are  the  subjects  of  the  lectures  from  October  5  to 
December  14.  Five  are  concerned  with  the  geography 
of  Central  and  Southern  America,  and  six  with  social 
questions:  "Porfirio  Diaz,  the  regenerator  of  Mexico; 
How  the  City  of  New  York  is  governed ;  Jamaica  and 
the  recent  earthquake;  The  Federation  of  the  World, 
The  history  and  true  meaning  of  the  pacifist  movement, 
by  a  witness  of  the  conference  at  The  Hague;  Bermuda, 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER   SCHOOLS   39 

the  land  of  lilies  and  roses;  The  evolution  of  goodness; 
Across  South  America,  an  account  of  a  journey  on 
mule-back  in  the  Andes  and  on  a  raft  on  the  Amazon ; 
What  America  owes  to  emigrants,  a  history  of  immi 
gration  since  1790  and  of  foreigners'  contribution 
toward  the  progress  of  the  Republic ;  A  trip  to  Brazil ; 
Face  to  face  with  great  ideals,  a  lecture  on  the  home 
and  school  in  America,  and  their  combined  influence 
in  the  building  up  of  a  life."  The  programme  indi 
cates  what  books  to  read  in  preparation,  and  in 
which  section  of  the  free  public  library  they  may  be 
borrowed. 

It  would  be  giving  a  false  idea  of  my  first  railroad 
journey,  to  let  it  be  supposed  that  it  was  entirely  occu 
pied  with  taking  notes  on  the  evening  schools.  The 
conversation  was  varied,  and  a  luncheon  given  by  Mr. 
Nicholson  broke  the  trip  most  agreeably;  it  is  unbe 
lievable  how  difficult  it  is  in  America  for  a  clergyman 
to  pay  his  way.  My  companions  talk  in  a  desultory 
manner  of  politics,  literature,  and  the  fine  arts.  They 
joke,  they  tell  stories;  and  I  remember  this  pun  about 
an  old  Canadian  woman  who  went  to  see  her  emigrant 
daughter  settled  at  Fall  River,  Massachusetts.  On  her 
return  home  she  told  her  friends,  "  It  is  quite  right  that 
the  Americans  are  a  people  of  no  faith,  simply  heathens. 
I  travelled  right  through  the  States  and  I  ran  across 
only  three  towns  with  saints'  names,  Saint  Albans, 
Saratoga,  and  Central  Falls !  " 

Little  by  little  along  the  road  we  shed  those  terrible 
Yankees,  and  as  we  approach  Canada,  I  see  good  folks 


40       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

speaking  the  purest  Normandy  French  get  on  board.* 
We  get  off,  however,  a  little  before  the  frontier  at 
Plattsburg  about  fifty  miles  from  Montreal,  after  a 
ten  hours'  journey  in  an  express  train. 

We  arrive  while  it  is  still  light  on  a  clear,  cool  even 
ing.  After  the  torrid  heat  of  New  York  what  a  joy 
it  is  to  let  oneself  become  impregnated  with  the  fresh 
ness  and  perfumes  diffused  by  the  lake  and  the  woods 
while  we  drive  in  a  light  carriage  to  the  Catholic 
Summer  School  of  America,  in  other  words  to  an 
elegant  though  simple  group  of  buildings,  including 
cottages,  tents,  boarding-houses,  and  lecture-rooms, 
not  forgetting  the  chapel  which,  during  two  summer 
months,  accommodates  several  thousand  Catholics 
gathered  together  from  all  the  States  (though  prin 
cipally  the  Eastern  ones),  and  sometimes  even  from 
abroad,f  for  the  purpose  of  relaxation,  study,  and 
prayer.  This  ideal  village  dominates  the  west  bank  of 
Lake  Champlain,  beyond  which  may  be  seen  the  green 
hills  of  Vermont,  while  by  turning  around,  one  dis 
covers  the  gray  Adirondacks.  A  long,  sandy  avenue 
divides  the  houses  into  two  groups;  white  board  walks 
lead  off  from  it  across  the  closely  clipped  grass  to  the 
several  dwellings.  The  cottages  are  so  well  kept  up 
that  they  all  look  freshly  painted.  Rain  and  mud 


*It  goes  without  saying  that  educated  Canadians  speak  correct 
French. 

tFrom  931  at  the  outset,  the  guests  passing  each  year  through 
the  school  from  the  tenth  of  June  to  the  thirtieth  of  September,  now 
number  about  7,000.  Another  Catholic  summer  school  was  opened  in 
1908  for  the  western  States  at  Springbank,  Wisconsin. 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS   41 

have  no  power  against  such  an  organization,  and  as  for 
dust,  they  are  guarded  against  that  by  the  waters  of  the 
lake,  the  grass  of  the  meadows,  and  the  trees  of  the 
forest.  The  interior  of  the  houses,  and  the  appearance 
of  the  people,  convey  the  same  impression  of  neatness, 
as  I  notice  during  the  visits  on  which  I  am  taken  the 
very  evening  of  my  arrival;  everywhere,  in  dress  as  in 
furniture,  the  same  simplicity  and  the  same  sober  refine 
ment  reign,  and  one  can  distinguish  no  sign  of  social 
inequality.  Perhaps  I  was  deluding  myself,  but  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  moral  atmosphere  glows  equally 
pure  and  brilliantly  transparent.  Every  one  lives  a 
life  open  to  the  gaze  of  everyone  else ;  there  is  nothing 
to  hide.  At  mass  on  Sunday  morning,  at  which  no  one 
fails  to  be  present,  there  is  much  earnest  prayer  and 
there  are  many  communicants.  A  quiet  happiness 
shines  on  the  faces  of  all,  a  sign  of  frank  and  simple 
habits.  There  is  such  security  that  both  church  and 
sacristy  are  left  open  without  a  watchman  night  as 
well  as  day.  Evidently  these  people  are  a  chosen  few, 
who  think  of  nothing  but  enjoying  a  well  deserved 
rest  coupled  with  instruction  and  moral  advancement; 
or  rather,  who  work  for  this  progress  without  so  much 
as  thinking  about  it,  which  is  about  the  best  way  to 
attain  it. 

I  cannot  be  present  at  any  of  the  classes,  since  I 
arrive  on  Saturday  evening  and  must  leave  on  Monday 
morning;  nevertheless,  I  gather  enough  information  to 
be  able  to  state  that  it  is  but  a  joke  when  it  is  said  that 
at  this  "  summer  school "  it  is  easier  to  find  the  summer 


42       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

than  the  school.  The  programme  for  this  year  an 
nounces  several  lectures  by  the  Rev.  Talbot  Smith, 
president  of  the  Institute,  on  the  first,  second,  and  third 
Republics  of  France;  by  the  Rev.  James  J.  Fox,  of  the 
University  of  Washington,  on  the  relations  between 
Church  and  State,  as  they  were  at  the  beginning,  and  as 
they  are  now  in  the  United  States ;  by  the  Rev.  John  J. 
Driscoll,  on  the  reconstruction  of  the  Church  in  France 
after  the  Revolution;  and  by  Father  McMillan  on  the 
progress  of  parish  schools.  Besides  these,  there  are 
lessons  in  astronomy;  courses  on  the  history  of  educa 
tion;  on  the  Celtic  language  and  literature;  on  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  and  its  history;  on  the  compati 
bility  of  business  and  intellectual  culture;  on  the  old 
and  new  philosophy  of  life;  on  French  history;  on  the 
history  and  character  of  American  Volunteers;  and  on 
the  dream  of  equality.  To  this  list  must  be  added 
classes  for  children,  music  courses,  even  for  Celtic 
dances,  and  finally, —  I  almost  said  above  all,  for  owing 
to  circumstances,  it  is  what  I  saw  the  most  of, —  even 
ing  assemblies  half  educational,  half  for  amusement,  at 
which  the  entire  colony  meets  and  fraternizes. 

After  our  installation  in  President  Talbot  Smith's 
cottage,  our  visits  to  several  families  and  clubs,  a 
dinner  at  the  common  restaurant,  we  took  part  in  one 
of  these  assemblies.  That  of  to-morrow  will  be  less 
amusing  since  I  shall  speak  at  it,  but  to-night  it  is 
frankly  gay.  Amateurs,  most  of  them  excellent  actors, 
give  an  ingenuous  and  laughable  sort  of  vaudeville 
called  Who's  who?  A  mad-brained  father  is  expect- 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS   43 

ing  the  suitor  for  his  daughter's  hand,  and  also  a  foot 
man.  When  they  arrive,  he  allows  neither  of  them 
the  time  to  explain  himself,  and  mistakes  one  for  the 
other.  The  same  mistake  arises  in  the  minds  of  the 
daughter  and  the  chambermaid.  But  love,  less  blind 
than  is  usually  supposed,  sets  the  situation  to  rights 
by  directing  each  heart  toward  its  proper  mate;  and 
when  in  the  end,  the  furious  father  turns  every  one  out, 
the  false  servant  because  he  wishes  to  marry  the  daugh 
ter,  the  false  suitor  because  he  wishes  to  marry  the 
chambermaid,  the  truth  comes  out  through  the  former 
asking  to  have  his  railroad  fare  returned  to  him,  and 
so  showing  himself  as  the  real  servant;  all  the  misun 
derstandings  are  straightened  out  and  the  two  couples 
marry  as  they  should.  All  the  fun  of  the  play  lies 
in  the  amazement  of  the  servant  at  being  treated  with 
such  consideration,  and  of  the  suitor  at  being  obliged 
to  black  the  father's  shoes.  Possibly  one  must  not  be 
surfeited  with  theatrical  art  to  enjoy  these  farces,  but 
the  audience  enjoyed  themselves  immensely,  as  well 
as  my  seminarist.  I  should  like  humbly  to  suggest 
the  plot  to  Tristan  Bernard;  what  would  the  author  of 
the  "  Twins  of  Brighton "  think  of  this  American 
Plautus*? 

On  Sunday  after  Mass  I  visit  the  College  Camp, 
where  boys  between  thirteen  and  twenty  years  of  age 
live  together  in  tents  like  soldiers,  leading  an  open-air 
life  and  devoting  themselves  to  all  sorts  of  sport.  The 
fare  is  simple  and  the  installation  primitive,  but 
hygiene  is  well  assured.  The  canvas  of  the  tent  is 


44       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

waterproof,  and  a  flooring  is  laid  to  cover  the  ground; 
board  walks  for  rainy  days  lead  from  tent  to  tent,  as 
in  the  main  settlement  from  cottage  to  cottage.  The 
camp  is  laid  out  in  the  midst  of  woods  on  the  edge  of 
a  cliff  overhanging  the  lake  (whence  the  name  Cliff- 
Haven,  the  landing-place  for  the  cliff).  All  the  boys 
look  well  and  happy.  Some  who  are  brought  up  and 
introduced  to  me,  live  too  far  away  to  return  home 
during  the  holidays,  especially  those  from  South  Amer 
ica  and  two  young  Filipinos  who  are  being  brought  up 
and  educated  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States  Gov 
ernment,  that  afterwards  they  may  help  it  to  assimilate 
those  far-off  island  possessions. 

Camping-out  thrives  in  America,  not  only  for  young 
people,  but  for  whole  families  or  parties  of  friends 
who  enjoy  passing  several  weeks  during  the  summer  in 
the  woods  or  mountains,  and  living  the  primitive  life 
of  their  Indian  predecessors.  It  appears  there  is  noth 
ing  more  enjoyable  or  so  strengthening.  Still,  it  is  for 
boys  especially  that  this  sport  is  considered  at  once 
the  supreme  pleasure  and  an  excellent  means  of  devel 
opment;  they  regain  simple  tastes  and  acquire  physical 
vigor,  two  advantages  equally  precious  in  an  over 
heated  civilization  that  exaggerates  the  appetites  and 
diminishes  the  forces.  One  should  hear  Father  Talbot 
Smith,  though  an  excellent  priest  somewhat  austere  of 
appearance,  praising  the  benefits  of  sports  and  of  base 
ball  above  all,  that  great  national  game  that,  with 
Americans,  ranks  ahead  of  all  other  diversions.  "Base 
ball,"  the  president  of  the  Summer  School  tells  me  as 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER   SCHOOLS   45 

we  return  to  camp,  "  promotes,  it  is  evident,  physical 
development;  but  it  does  more  than  that:  it  develops 
also  social  manners,  from  the  fact  that  it  is  played 
before  a  large  public;  an  instinct  of  solidarity,  from  the 
division  of  the  players  into  two  rival  teams;  discipline, 
and  a  feeling  for  honor  and  loyalty,  because  every 
thing  is  run  according  to  fair  rules.  "Base-ball,"  he 
adds,  "  is  an  efficient  instrument  of  assimilation.  You 
see  that  young  Filipino?  He  is  looked  upon  as  a  good 
American  because  he  plays  a  first-class  game  of  base 
ball." 

And  the  fact  is  that  I  saw  no  sort  of  merit  so  appre 
ciated  as  that.  Any  one  not  interested  in  base-ball  loses 
all  consideration.  I  myself,  in  order  not  to  compromise 
precious  friendships,  had  to  witness  a  big  match  in  New 
York,  and  ask  news  from  time  to  time  of  the  game 
played  by  the  nines  of  New  York  and  Chicago. 

In  the  train  bearing  me  back  to  the  Atlantic  coast 
after  four  months  in  the  West,  I  remember  one  evening 
having  eagerly  bought  a  copy  of  tfke  New  York 
Herald,  the  head  waiter  of  the  dining-car  came  to  ask 
me  to  lend  it  to  him  for  a  few  minutes,  a  familiarity 
as  astonishing  on  this  side  of  the  Mississippi  as  it  would 
have  been  natural  on  the  other.  He  soon  returned 
triumphant  and,  quoting  the  scores  of  the  match 
between  the  New  York  and  Detroit  champions,  "  What 
do  you  think  of  that?  "  he  asked.  "  Was  n't  it  a  beauti 
ful  garnet"  "Magnificent,"  I  replied  with  convic 
tion,  and  would  indeed  have  been  embarrassed  to  make 
any  other  answer. 


46       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

The  Catholic  Summer  School  has  plenty  of  grounds 
for  its  various  sports,  tennis,  ball  games,  races,  golf, 
swimming,  and  canoeing.  The  woods,  the  mountains, 
and  a  lake  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  long  and  at  some 
points  twelve  or  thirteen  miles  wide,  all  lie  before  the 
fortunate  inmates,  and  the  school  itself  owns  five  hun 
dred  acres  of  land.  And,  by-the-by,  a  Frenchman 
would  think  that,  with  such  an  investment  and  such 
buildings,  the  taxes  would  be  infamous ;  but  not  at  all, 
there  is  not  a  dollar,  not  a  cent,  collected  for  taxes 
—  is  it  not  an  educational  institution,  and  hence  does  it 
not  serve  the  public'?  The  whole  is  exempt  as  a 
University  Extension  and  the  cottages  as  dormitories. 
But  public  authority  goes  farther  than  this;  not  satis 
fied  with  exempting  from  all  taxation  this  Catholic  in 
stitution  (as  it  would  exempt  any  other  analogous  one) 
it  pushes  clericalism,  or  at  least  infatuation,  to  the 
point  of  offering  further  encouragement  by  sympathetic 
visits.  The  Summer  School  has  inscribed  among  its 
visitors  the  names  of  President  McKinley,  several 
Vice-Presidents,  and  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  when  he 
was  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

On  Sunday  afternoon  President  Talbot  Smith, 
Father  McMillan,  and  I  drive  to  the  Hotel  Champ- 
lain.  Here,  indeed  I  had  better  refrain  from  descrip 
tion  if  I  would  not  wish  my  countrymen  to  suspect  me 
of  advertising  this  hostelry.  It  is  impossible  not  to 
admire  this  splendid  residence,  the  tasteful  but  sumptu 
ous  arrangement,  where  every  one  feels  at  home  while 
enjoying  all  the  luxuries  of  a  princely  establishment; 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS   47 

the  library  contains  several  thousand  good  books;  and 
what  views  over  the  lake  and  glimpses  of  the  moun 
tains!  What  a  marvellous  and  immense  park,  with 
long  drives  laid  out,  at  the  same  time  both  wild  and 
cultivated,  a  virgin  forest  intersected  with  gravel 
roads ! 

The  ideal  way  is  to  live,  not  in  the  main  building, 
but  in  one  of  the  cottages  lost  among  the  trees,  where 
one  is  served  and  waited  on  as  at  the  hotel,  and  where, 
with  no  troublesome  housekeeping,  a  family  may  still 
retain  the  impression  of  being  at  home.  Such,  it 
seems  to  me  is  the  cottage  where  we  go  to  call  on  Judge 
Dowling  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  one  of  the  most  radiant  and  kindly  spirits  that 
it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  with  anywhere, 
France  included;  and  I  should  like  to  hear  what  those 
of  my  countrymen,  who  judge  of  Americans  from  a 
few  snobs  and  Shylocks,  would  say  if  they  were  to 
come  face  to  face  with  this  eminent  man. 

And,  it  must  be  admitted,  only  the  truth  could  induce 
me  to  speak  such  praises  of  Judge  Dowling  in  spite  of 
the  grudge  I  have  against  him.  Having  returned  to 
the  Summer  School  for  dinner  and  having  addressed  the 
students  afterwards  in  a  lecture  spoken  (may  Heaven 
forgive  me!)  in  English,  we  started  out  again  for  the 
Hotel  Champlain,  and,  in  my  innocence,  I  was  aban 
doning  myself  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  cool  starry 
night,  when  I  learned  with  astonishment  that  the  amiable 
magistrate  wished  us  to  accept  his  invitation  to  a  sec 
ond  dinner,  or  rather  a  supper, —  it  was  the  reality  and 


48       AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

not  the  word  that  frightened  me.  My  very  sincere 
resistance  proved  fruitless;  having  once  yielded  to  the 
oyster  cocktail,  I  could  not  hold  out  against  the  rest, 
and,  returning  at  half-past  eleven,  I  could  not  get  to 
sleep  until  nearly  six  o'clock,  just  in  time  to  be  waked 
by  Father  McMillan  growling  out  at  my  door  "Don't 
forget  that  the  boat  leaves  at  seven  " ;  and  sure  enough 
at  seven  o'clock  we  were  embarking  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain. 

The  first  part  of  the  voyage  was  passed  in  sleep,  and 
in  my  dreams  I  saw  myself  condemned  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  three  years  of  forced 
meals.  At  the  end  of  an  hour  or  two,  invigorated  by 
the  morning  breeze,  I  bitterly  reproached  Father 
McMillan  who  was  sitting  near  me  in  a  rocking  chair. 
Looking  as  unconcerned  as  an  angel  of  the  Dutch 
school,  he  suggested  curing  my  indigestion  with  a  hearty 
breakfast.  The  remedy  proving  efficacious,  I  regained 
my  good  spirits  and  was  able  during  the  rest  of  the  day 
to  enjoy  the  wonderful  scenery  past  which  we  were 
steaming.  To  the  left  the  fertile  plains  of  Vermont 
lay  stretched  out  before  us  reaching  to  the  Green 
Mountains  in  the  background;  on  the  right  the  broken 
shore  line  seemed  the  last  outpost  of  the  Adirondacks. 
We  skirted  islands,  rounded  peninsulas,  tacked  from 
shore  to  shore,  touched  at  little  industrial  centres,  or 
at  summer  resorts,  sometimes  seeing  pretty  country- 
houses,  sometimes  wild  recesses  studded  with  the  camps 
belonging  to  young  New  Yorkers  instead  of  to  the  Red- 


NIGHT    AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS    49 

skins.  And  all  this  my  companion  embellishes  with 
tales  of  the  expeditions  of  Champlain  and  of  the 
struggle  between  the  French  and  the  English;  stories 
of  the  Revolution,  and  of  the  customs  of  the  Redskins 
and  the  resistance  offered  by  the  Indian  tribes. 

Toward  midday  we  see  the  lake  narrow  down  to  a 
river,  and  the  boat  stops  at  Fort  Ticonderoga,  now  in 
ruins,  but  still  picturesque  and  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  precious  monuments  of  American  history.  Built 
in  1755  by  the  French  under  the  name  of  Fort  Carillon, 
it  resisted,  three  years  later,  an  attack  of  the  English, 
who  lost  there  no  less  than  two  thousand  men;  evacu 
ated  by  the  French  the  following  year,  the  British  flag 
floated  over  it  until  in  1775  the  American  volunteers 
seized  it  in  "  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the 
Continental  Congress."  General  Burgoyne  recaptured 
it  in  1777,  but  held  it  for  a  short  time  only,  and  in 
1 780  the  Americans  dismantled  it. 

At  Ticonderoga,  a  pretty  waterfall  discharges  into 
Lake  Champlain  the  waters  of  Lake  George  which  lies 
at  a  level  of  250  feet  higher.  A  little  railroad  leads 
us  there  in  a  very  short  time,  and  the  first  part  of  the 
afternoon  is  spent  sailing  between  its  picturesque 
banks.  The  hills,  which  might  almost  be  called 
mountains,  that  rise  perpendicularly  from  the  lake, 
and  whose  verdure  is  therein  reflected,  vividly  recall  the 
Italian  lakes,  and  especially  the  upper  end  of  Lugano. 
Just  opposite,  one  sees  a  sky  line  similar  to  that  of 
Oria  and  San  Manette.  It  is  quite  an  unexpected  sen 
sation  to  run  across  here  the  landscapes  of  II  Piccolo 


50       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Mondo  Antic o;  who  would  have  believed  there  could 
be  any  connection  between  Fenimore  Cooper  and  Foga- 
zzaro?  Nevertheless  it  is  in  the  defiles  surrounding 
Lake  George  that  the  scene  of  "  The  Last  of  the  Mo 
hicans  "  is  laid:  "  The  time  being,"  as  the  author  says, 
"  during  the  third  year  of  the  war  which  England  and 
France  last  waged  for  the  possession  of  a  country  that 
neither  was  destined  to  retain." 

In  spite  of  the  villas,  the  cottages,  the  camps  and  the 
hotels,  installed  on  the  numerous  islands,  and  in  the 
coves  of  the  winding  shore,  the  country,  if  one  pen 
etrates  the  least  bit  inland,  is  in  no  way  changed  since 
the  time  of  the  Indians.  The  aspect  of  the  region 
has  fortunately  retained  all  its  wildness,  and  it  requires 
no  effort  to  sink  back  to  the  conditions  of  primitive 
life.  There  is  nothing  in  the  world  so  restful,  and  I 
quite  understand  that  Father  Hecker  should  have 
founded  there,  at  a  time  when  the  price  of  land  was 
still  moderate,  the  country  place  for  his  sons.  It  is 
still  the  most  simple  place  imaginable,  and  except  for 
the  hall  in  which  mass  is  said,  consists  only  of  the  plain 
est  sort  of  rooms  necessary  for  sleeping  and  eating. 
But  what  freedom  of  manners  and  tender  cordiality! 
Without  having  had  time  to  try  the  camping-out 
enjoyed  by  a  few  young  Fathers  on  a  neighboring 
island,  I  do  not  believe  one  could  find  anything  more 
thoroughly  "back  to  nature"  than  here  in  the  sur 
roundings  of  this  loving  Father  Smith.  Why  must  I, 
after  but  two  nights  and  one  day,  half  lost,  alas,  in  what 
is  called  intellectual  pursuits,  depart  from  Sainte  Marie 


NIGHT   AND    SUMMER    SCHOOLS    51 

du  Lac,  set  out  in  the  little  motor  boat  driven  by  two 
of  the  Fathers,  and  rejoin  once  more  the  banal  rail 
road?  If  Father  McMillan  did  not  carry  his  kindness 
so  far  as  to  accompany  me  to  Albany,  where  I  am  to 
take  the  express  to  Buffalo,  I  do  not  know  whether  I 
should  have  the  courage  so  soon  to  leave  my  Paulists, 
the  rustic  house  of  Sainte  Marie,  the  green  waters  of 
the  bewitching  lake,  the  primeval  forest  where  in  times 
gone  by  the  trappers  hunted  their  game,  where  Hawk 
Eye  triumphed,  and  the  Mingos  and  the  Mohicans  trod 
the  war  path. 


CHAPTER  III 
CHAUTAUQUA 

THE  DREAM  OF  A  SUMMER'S  DAY  -  AN  AMERICAN  SAL- 
ENTUM  -  CHAUTAUgUA          INSTITUTE  -  AN        ACA 
DEMIC   CITY   OF    12,OOO  INHABITANTS  -  ITS  ORIGIN, 
PROGRAMME,  SPIRIT,  AND  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  - 
THE   THIRST   FOR  KNOWLEDGE. 


night  in  Buffalo  and  one  morning  with  the 
priests  of  the  French  Church,  who  are,  both  the 
vicar  and  the  curate,  two  model  types  of  Alsatians, 
grave,  good,  and  devoted,  then  I  take  the  train  for 
Jamestown,  one  of  the  stations  on  my  way  to  Chau- 
tauqua.*  tfhe  Chautauqua  Daily,  the  newspaper  of 
the  famous  institute,  having  asked  me,  according  to  the 
American  custom,  for  an  account  of  my  recent  impres 
sions,  I  wrote  out  for  it  the  following  lines.  The  quota 
tion  I  hope  will  be  allowed  me  on  the  score  of  that  sort 
of  intimacy  which,  by  an  account  of  his  travels,  is 
established  between  an  author  and  those  on  whom  he 
comes  to  look  as  in  some  sort  his  fellow  travellers. 

To  describe  marvels  and  describe  them  with  enthusiasm,  to 
relate  admirable   deeds,    to   tell   of   prodigious  events   and   un- 

*I  do  not  speak  of  Buffalo  or  its  noisy  neighbor,   Niagara,  simply 
because  I  described  them  already  in  "  The  Land  of  the  Strenuous  Life." 

52 


CHAUTAUQUA  53 

heard  of  happiness,  and  at  the  end,  when  the  reader  is  throb 
bing  with  admiration,  to  declare  to  him  coldly  that  all  this  was 
but  a  dream  —  this  is  one  of  the  methods  most  frequently  em 
ployed  in  literature,  extending  from  epics  to  childish  tastes, 
from  the  Iliad  to  "  Alice  in  Wonderland."  I  do  not  wish  to 
decry  such  a  universal  and  venerable  custom,  but  I  owe  it  to 
the  truth  to  say  that,  having  reversed  the  experiment,  it  ap 
peared  to  me  immensely  more  interesting.  I  also  have  seen  as 
tonishing  things  such  as  one  sees  only  in  a  dream.  Only  when 
I  rubbed  my  eyes  to  find  out  whether  I  was  asleep,  did  I  real 
ize  that  everything  was  real.  But  if  I  tell  you  what  I  have 
seen,  you  will  not  believe  me,  and  will  think  that  I  am  still 
dreaming.  Perhaps  after  all  you  are  right.  At  any  rate,  this 
is  what  I  remember. 

It  was  during  the  first  years  of  the  twentieth  century,  and 
more  exactly,  if  my  notebook  does  not  deceive  me,  on  the  eight 
eenth  day  of  July,  of  the  year  of  grace  1907.  Steamship  and 
railroad,  the  principal  means  of  travel  in  these  barbarous  times, 
had  brought  me  from  Paris  to  Jamestown  in  a  fortnight. 
Jamestown  must  exist,  since  the  train  stops  there.  At  any  rate, 
I  did  not  see  it.  At  the  station  there  was  waiting  for  me  a 
student  from  Chicago,  very  similar  to  the  one  whom  a  friend 
of  mine  had  taken  around  in  France  one  year  earlier,  and  who 
related  his  impressions  under  the  strange  title,  "  The  Discovery 
of  the  Old  World."*  Like  the  hero  of  this  book,  my  escort 
was  an  open-minded  man  with  a  writer's  heart,  a  simple  and 
strong  soul.  The  strange  coincidence  was  the  first  reason 
which  makes  me  believe  that  I  had  been  transported  into  dream 
land. 

Soon  a  not  over  rapid  chariot  —  I  have  already  told  you 
that  at  that  time  men  were  still  touching  the  ground  with  their 
means  of  transportation  —  brought  us  by  a  route  which  some 
times  crossed  green  fields,  and  at  other  times  skirted  the  blue 
water  of  a  lake,  toward  the  most  incredible  and  yet  the  most 
alluring  city  that  I  have  ever  seen.  To  enter  it,  magic  words 
had  to  be  pronounced,  and  thus  were  the  Philistines  forever 
excluded  therefrom.  Neither  could  one  leave  it  except  after 

*"The  Discovery  of  the  Old  World  by  a  Chicago  Student." 


54       AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

having  satisfied  similar  requirements;  and  there  is  in  the  coun 
try  a  terrible  legend  about  a  traveller  who,  having  entered  by 
fraud,  was  never  able  to  get  out,  even  after  his  death,  so  that 
his  soul  is  still  there,  impatiently  awaiting  Judgment  Day. 
The  imaginary  student  having  spoken  for  us  both  to  the  angel 
who  was  guarding  the  door,  we  entered  the  sacred  enclosure. 

Beneath  hundred-year-old  trees  were  sheltered  here  and 
there  rustic  cottages,  on  the  porches  of  which  were  rocking 
upon  moving  seats  mortals  of  all  ages  and  of  every  costume; 
but  all  looking  alike  in  the  peacefulness,  health,  and  joy  which 
their  smiling  faces  expressed.  Children  were  playing  in  the 
avenues,  and  young  girls  were  dancing  about  the  lawn.  Some 
larger  and  more  austere  dwellings  varied  the  landscape,  and 
as  I  asked  my  guide  what  their  purpose  was,  he  replied  to  me 
that  the  sciences,  art  and  philosophy  were  taught  there.  And 
thus  I  learned  that  this  city  had  not  been  built  like  the  others, 
to  acquire  wealth,  but  in  order  to  give  to  mankind  lessons  of 
wisdom  and  of  virtue.  Experienced  teachers  are  summoned 
there  from  all  countries,  and  around  them  assemble  each  year 
by  thousands  and  thousands  the  minds  eager  to  learn,  the  souls 
desirous  of  progress. 

I  soon  was  led  to  the  sage  who  presides  over  the  destinies  of 
this  academy.  I  bowed  before  him,  and  before  his  gracious 
wife.  He  greeted  me  gracefully,  as  the  foreign  princes  greeted 
formally  the  vagabond  Ulysses.  They  conducted  me  first  into 
a  brilliant  room  where  they  served  me  with  the  most  delicious 
dishes,  and  then  led  me  to  the  shore  of  the  lake  and  embarked 
with  me  in  an  elegant  vessel  where  youths  and  young  girls,  as 
sembled  around  venerable  matrons,  were  singing  hymns  to  the 
accompaniment  of  stringed  instruments.  The  boat  started, 
gliding  over  the  waters  of  the  lake  upon  which  the  splendors  of 
the  setting  sun  were  being  reflected  in  gold,  emerald,  and  all 
sorts  celestial  colors.  When  night  came  I  was  led  to  an  am 
phitheatre  built  by  nature  itself,  and  which  the  hand  of  man 
had  provided  with  comfortable  seats  and  a  sheltering  roof. 
Two  or  three  thousand  spectators  were  watching  there  the 
gymnastic  exercises  and  dances,  in  which  young  people  showed 
surprising  agility,  reproducing  in  turn  the  customs  of  all  coun- 


CHAUTAUQUA  55 

tries  and  of  all  ages.  After  this  spectacle,  we  went  to  a  sort 
of  Greek  temple,  with  a  roof  protecting  from  the  sun,  but  open 
on  all  sides  and  separated  from  the  outside  only  by  columns. 
It  was  called  the  Hall  of  Philosophy,  and  I  learned  with  fear 
that  on  the  morrow  I  was  to  expound  there  in  public  the  cus 
toms  of  my  own  country.  This  idea,  and  perhaps  also  the 
fatigue  of  the  trip  prevented  me  from  enjoying  as  I  ought  the 
conversation  which  Muses  full  of  knowledge  and  grace  were  to 
carry  on  in  the  coolness  of  the  evening. 

On  the  following  morning,  at  dawn,  I  was  taken  in  a  light 
carriage  to  the  shady  road  which  serves  as  street  in  this  city  of 
the  wise  men.  I  was  shown  numerous  temples  where,  in  dif 
ferent  ways,  the  inhabitants  pray  and  honor  the  same  God. 
Several  dwellings  opened  before  us,  and  they  were  schools. 
Here  they  were  teaching  the  languages  of  different  people; 
elsewhere  philosophy;  and  elsewhere  the  sciences.  The  arts 
were  not  forgotten,  nor  even  useful  manual  labor.  But  nothing 
was  done  through  compulsion.  Each  one  went  to  learn  what 
he  preferred  to  know,  and,  spontaneously,  the  different  sexes, 
the  different  ages,  organized  in  free  groups,  around  the  teachers 
they  preferred.  Everybody  worked  and  nobody  labored.  I 
was  very  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  take  part  in  these  profitable 
exercises,  and  the  idea  that  I  would  have  to  leave  this  en 
chanting  spot  that  very  evening,  seemed  frightful  to  me. 

My  soul  filled  with  the  beautiful  landscape  and  wise 
speeches,  I  returned  to  the  dwelling  which  was  assigned  to  me, 
and  through  the  large  bays  of  my  window,  admiring  the  waters 
of  the  sleeping  lake,  I  thought  of  the  speech  which  I  was  to 
make  in  the  presence  of  so  learned  a  population. 

It  soon  seemed  to  me  that  I  was  falling  asleep,  that  I  was 
transported  before  large  crowds,  and  that  I  was  speaking  in  a 
language  unknown  to  myself.  When  I  awoke  from  this 
strange  dream,  I  was  assured  that  it,  like  all  the  rest,  was  a 
reality. 

And  now  I  find  myself  in  the  position  of  the  honest 
author  of  cosmography  whose  manual  we  studied  at  the 
seminary:  "Whither,"  he  cried  in  a  burst  of  lyricism, 


56       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

"whither  go  these  long-haired  stars?"  adding  in  par 
entheses  comets.  And  now  I  too  find  it  my  painful 
duty  to  explain  what  I  have  just  said. 

The  name  of  Chautauqua,  which  has  such  a  strange 
ring  to  French  ears,  is  most  familiar  to  American  ones, 
and  calls  to  mind,  first,  a  lake  and,  second,  a  school. 

Of  the  two,  the  lake  is  far  the  easier  tc  understand ! 
It  is  a  pleasing  sheet  of  water  eighteen  miles  long  and 
two  miles  wide  lying  more  than  thirteen  hundred  feet 
above  sea  level  and  more  than  seven  hundred  feet  above 
the  level  of  Lake  Erie,  which  is  only  seven  miles  away. 
Surrounded  by  hills,  woods,  and  villas,  it  furnishes  a 
most  delightful  summer  resort  for  the  East  and  the 
Middle  West;  and  people  come  to  it  not  only  from 
Buffalo,  which  is  quite  near,  but  from  New  York  and 
Chicago  which  are  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  away. 

The  institution  is  a  school  which,  in  summer, 
receives  thousands  of  students  of  all  ages  and  which,  the 
rest  of  the  year,  continues  from  a  distance  to  instruct 
its  immense  number  of  pupils  either  by  superintended 
courses  of  reading  or  through  travelling  lecturers.  The 
success  it  has  attained  has  incited  imitators  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  which  it  regards  with  interest  but  with 
out  absorbing  them,  and  which  have  taken  the  name 
Chautauqua  as  the  common  appellation  of  a  whole 
system  of  similar  institutions.*  America  is  now  every 
summer  flooded  with  hundreds  of  "Chautauquas"  large 

*A  few  of  these  enterprises,  disowned  by  the  principal  one,  pursue 
a  lucrative  object  only. 


CHAUTAUQUA  57 

and  small,  and  the  Summer  Assembly  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  described  in  the  preceding  chapter,  is  in  a  way  a 
Catholic  Chautauqua.  But  at  all  events  the  alma 
mater  has  remained  by  far  the  largest  institution  of  the 
kind. 

It  was  founded  in  August,  1874,  by  Lewis  Miller, 
who  died  in  1899,  and  by  John  H.  Vincent  a  Methodist 
bishop,  born  in  1832,  who  is  still  the  chancellor,  while 
his  son,  George  E.  Vincent,  discharges  in  a  masterly 
manner  the  functions  of  president.  At  first  it  was  the 
intention  of  the  school  to  train  Sunday  School  teachers 
only,  but  it  very  shortly  extended  its  field  to  embrace 
almost  all  classes  of  teaching.  It  is,  in  a  specially  pop 
ular  and  flexible  way,  a  sort  of  university,  where  nearly 
a  hundred  professors  each  year  give  the  most  various 
sorts  of  lectures  from  really  high  courses  for  educated 
people  to  elementary  classes  for  small  children,  and  the 
session,  which  at  first  only  lasted  twelve  days  now  con 
tinues  for  sixty. 

The  annual  budget  of  expenses  exceeds  one  hundred 
and  eighty  five  thousand  dollars  and  of  receipts  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  Their 
real  and  personal  property  amounts  to  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  of  which  only  $61,413  is  due  to 
endowments,  but  these  will  surely  increase,  and  the 
institution  will  certainly  push  on  in  the  same  lines  it 
is  now  pursuing  of  spending  more  on  its  "students" 
than  it  receives  from  them.* 

*One  complete  course  costs  $6,  two  courses  $11,  three  courses  $12. 
By  a  complete  course  is  understood  the  teaching  of  one  subject  for  six 


58       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Such  is  the  case  in  the  United  States  in  almost  all  the 
big  schools,  and  usually  without  any  subsidy  from  the 
public  powers. 

Besides,  Chautauqua  is  in  no  way  a  business  scheme, 
and  if  work  is  rewarded,  the  investment  of  capital  is 
not.  All  the  receipts  are  applied  to  furthering  the  pur 
pose  of  the  school.  Teachers  were  needed,  so  they 
are  brought  from  the  universities  and  colleges  of  Amer 
ica,  and  sometimes  from  farther  still.  They  needed 
to  be  settled  on  a  large,  pleasant  and  healthy  property, 
so  they  bought  one  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  acres, 
forming  a  natural  park  with  trees  and  lawns;  a  hotel 
was  built  to  accommodate  three  hundred  persons;  sixty 
cottages  and  boarding-houses  are  authorized  by  the 
institution  to  receive  other  guests.  The  population 
varies  from  twelve  and  even  fifteen  thousand  in  sum 
mer  to  five  hundred  during  the  winter. 

The  whole  forms  a  regular  city  with  the  usual  serv 
ices  of  roads,  water,  gas,  electricity,  means  of  com 
munication,  post,  telegraph,  telephone,  a  printing  press, 
and  a  school  newspaper;  in  a  word,  all  the  advantages 
of  urban  life  in  the  midst  of  rural  surroundings.  Sa 
loons,  theatres,  public  halls,  games  of  chance,  beggars, 

•weeks  of  five  days  each.  There  are  half  courses,  and  all  sorts  of 
other  combinations.  The  entrance  fees  are  $4  for  one  month  and  $6 
for  the  season,  and  the  board  varies  from  $4  per  day  to  $6  per  week. 
Free  tuition  may  be  obtained  in  exchange  for  certain  services  in  the 
office,  or  even  for  porter's  work.  The  greater  part  of  the  hotel 
servants,  men  and  women,  are  students  who  thus  earn  enough  to 
enable  them  to  profit  by  the  courses,  nor  are  they  ever  treated  in  any 
way  differently  from  the  more  fortunate  scholars.  I  have  before  me 
a  photograph  of  the  group,  and  there  is  not  a  more  charming  one  in 
my  album. 


CHAUTAUQUA  59 

hawkers,  politicians,  drunkards  and  a  certain  number 
of  other  city  refinements  are  lacking,  for  the  admin 
istration  will  not  tolerate  them,  and  nothing  in  this 
modern  Salentum  is  done  without  its  permission.  This 
is  not  really  a  socialist  community  nor  a  communistic 
settlement;  it  is  an  educational  establishment  registered 
as  such  by  the  State  of  New  York,  a  corporation  with 
the  special  aim  of  promoting  the  intellectual,  social, 
physical,  moral,  and  religious  welfare  of  the  people. 
The  trustees  and  the  officers  they  elect  have  absolute 
power  to  do  whatever  they  judge  advisable  for  the  ad 
vancement  of  the  cause.  The  State,  far  from  hindering 
them,  recognizes  their  work  only  to  reward  them  by 
exemption  from  all  taxation.  As  to  the  inhabitants, 
young  or  old,  alone  or  with  their  families,  they  are  all 
alike  treated  as  students.  They  must  stop  all  noise 
after  the  bells  ring  the  curfew ;  they  may  not  enter  the 
gates,  which  are  kept  severely  closed,  until  they  have 
shown  their  card  of  admission;  and,  which  seems 
strange  at  first,  they  may  not  leave  the  grounds  without 
an  exeat,  or  on  returning  they  are  obliged  to  pay  the 
entrance  fee  over  again.  There  are  no  exceptions  made, 
except  in  serious  cases  or  regularly  every  Sunday,  when 
anyone  is  permitted  to  go  out  to  attend  service  at  any 
denomination  not  represented  at  Chautauqua.  Visitors 
are  no  more  readily  received  than  they  would  be  at  a 
French  college. 

There  is  good  reason  for  all  these  precautions. 
Chautauqua  is  not  a  watering  place.  The  simply 
curious  must  be  banished,  and  only  those  who  wish  to 


60       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

profit  by  the  courses  are  looked  upon  as  desirable  guests, 
and  they  have  nothing  to  complain  of.  No  suitable 
form  of  amusement  is  missing.  Base-ball,  canoeing, 
swimming,  tennis,  bowling,  races,  and  athletic  games 
—  all  the  sports  —  are  represented.  Nothing  is  lack 
ing  in  the  way  of  musicals,  plays,  public  celebrations, 
or  excursions  (there  are  regular  ones  to  Niagara) ;  but 
the  greatest  attraction  of  the  life  is  the  instruction. 
Without  ever  being  compulsory,  it  is  always  and  every 
where  offered  to  all  under  the  most  various  and  seduc 
tive  forms.  Every  one  may  study  what  he  pleases ;  and 
should  someone  turn  up  who  is  really  pleased  with  none 
of  the  two  hundred  courses  that  are  offered,  ranging 
from  higher  education  to  kindergarten,  it  is  presumed 
that  this  exacting  mortal  would  willingly  leave  Chau- 
tauqua  for  the  charms  of  a  fashionable  watering  place 
or  a  noisy  summer  resort. 

Whatever  one  may  legitimately  wish  for,  a  corre 
sponding  arrangement  may  be  found,  or  at  least  com 
panions  to  organize  it.  There  are  clubs  for  men,  for 
women,  for  boys,  for  girls,  for  children,  and  I  would 
like  to  say  "for  many  others"  in  the  sense  that  the 
same  persons  group  and  regroup  themselves  indefinitely 
according  to  country,  professions,  tastes,  and  even  age, 
since  there  is  an  octogenarian  club  whose  members 
number  from  six  to  twelve. 

They  may  group  themselves  according  to  creed  too 
if  they  will;  there  is  a  quarter  of  denominational 
houses  which  comprises  no  fewer  than  nine  different 


CHAUTAUQUA  61 

establishments.  Private  services  are  held  there  every 
Sunday  morning  at  ten  o'clock,  and  public  worship  the 
same  day  at  eleven  and  five  in  the  large  amphitheatre 
which  can  accommodate  five  thousand  two  hundred 
persons.  A  chapel,  properly  so-called,  which  is  also 
undenominational,  serves  during  the  week  for  morning 
prayer  and  religious  instruction.  The  Catholics,  few 
in  number,  go  outside  to  hear  Mass,  for,  owing  to  a 
lack  of  clergy,  the  Bishop  of  Buffalo,  requested  to  send 
a  priest,  was  unable  to  do  so  more  than  two  or  three 
times. 

The  institution,  though  founded  by  a  Methodist 
bishop,  treats  all  creeds,  even  the  Unitarian,  with  the 
same  respect  and  tolerance ;  it  is  not  undenominational, 
but  all-denominational.  Unbelievers  only,  without 
being  subject  to  the  least  inquisition,  would  not  be  at 
ease  in  this  sincerely  religious  atmosphere,  and  I  think 
they  would  stay  away  of  their  own  accord.  The 
founder,  John  H.  Vincent,  analyzing  the  principles  of 
the  institution,  declares  that  it  is  based  on  the  idea  that 
education  is  the  work  of  a  lifetime;  and  he  adds  at  once, 
"The  true  basis  of  education  is  religious.  The  fear 
of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom, —  the  recogni 
tion  of  the  Divine  existence,  and  of  his  claims  upon  us 
as  moral  beings, —  the  unity  and  brotherhood  of  the  race 
with  all  that  that  brotherhood  involves:  harmony  with 
the  Divine  character  as  the  ideal  of  life  for  time  and 
eternity;  and  the  pursuit  and  use  of  all  science  in  per 
sonal  culture,  the  increase  of  reverent  love  for  God,  and 


62       AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

of  affectionate  self-sacrifice  and  labor  for  the  well- 
being  of  man."* 

Now,  there  is  no  question  here  of  that  abstraction, 
that  dream,  known  as  natural  religion.  What  is 
taught  and  practised  at  Chautauqua  is  the  revealed  re 
ligion  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Gospels,  those 
truths  common  to  the  beliefs  of  all  Christians;  no  doubt 
Catholics  would  find  this  teaching  incomplete,  but  no 
one  will  oppose  their  filling  it  out  in  their  own  worship 
and  in  the  expression  of  their  creed. 

A  particular  building,  Normal  Hall,  is  given  up  to 
Bible  study  and  the  preparation  of  Sunday  School 
teachers,  which  was  the  original  aim  of  the  institution 
and  still  remains  one  of  its  essential  branches.  In  the 
early  years,  in  order  more  easily  to  attain  this  end,  a 
model  of  Palestine  was  set  up,  a  topographical  repro 
duction  of  the  Holy  Land,  a  miniature  in  stone  and 
sand  that  measured  no  less  than  three  hundred  feet, 
and  set  forth  pretty  clearly  the  mountains  and  towns, 
the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  the  brook  Cedron,  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  all  the  sacred  landscape.  It  was  not  kept  up,  and 
has  been  advantageously  replaced  by  the  fine  edifice  in 
the  Greek  style  known  as  the  Aula  Christi,  or  House 
of  Christ,  the  architect  of  which,  Paul  J.  Petz,  is  the 
same  who  designed  the  famous  Congressional  Library 
at  Washington.  A  central  nave  seventy  feet  long  ends 
in  a  platform,  at  the  back  of  which  a  large  arch  awaits 
a  statue  of  Christ;  it  will  probably,  as  must  be  hoped, 

*The  Chautauqua  Movement,  p.  13.  Boston,  Chautauqua  Press, 
1886. 


CHAUTAUQUA  63 

be  a  copy  of  Thorwaldsen's  chef  d'oeuvre.  No  public 
worship  according  to  any  ritual  will  be  celebrated  at 
Aula  Christi,  but  all  the  scientific,  moral,  and  artistic 
gatherings  will  be  held  there,  and  it  is  there  that  will  be 
given  those  lectures,  lessons,  and  concerts  whose  object 
is  to  make  known  and  beloved  the  life,  the  words,  the 
acts,  the  spirit,  and  the  permanent  influence  of  the 
Divine  Master.  In  one  of  the  two  lateral  wings  will 
be  collected  all  the  works  on  the  life  of  Jesus.  Works 
of  art  that  recall  and  glorify  Him  will  adorn  the  rest 
of  the  building,  and  the  stained  glass  will  set  forth 
scenes  from  the  Gospels.  "There,"  said  John  H.  Vin 
cent,  "  every  one  can,  any  day  and  at  all  hours,  learn  of 
what  Christ  has  said  and  done.  It  will  be  the 
central  edifice  of  Chautauqua,  and  it  will  symbolize 
before  the  world  the  inspiration  and  support  of  all  our 
efforts." 

To  instil  the  religious  ideal  into  all  conduct,  even 
the  most  humble  acts  of  daily  life,  to  teach  the  knowl 
edge  of  how  to  live,  and  that  without  distinction  of  age, 
profession,  or  fortune,  is  in  reality  the  exalted  aim  of 
the  Chautauqua  School,  in  the  pursuit  of  which  it  has 
never  faltered.  What  better  ideal,  then,  could  it  offer 
its  crowds  of  adherents  than  the  personality  and  the 
perfect  work  of  Him  Who  came,  as  He  Himself  has 
said,  that  men  might  have  life  and  might  have  it  more 
abundantly? 

The  success  of  Chautauqua  and  similar  works  is  a 
monument  to  the  honor  of  the  American  people.  That 
each  summer  a  transient  population  of  more  than  ten 


64       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

thousand  persons*  should  willingly  abandon  themselves 
to  so  strict  a  discipline;  that  throughout  the  year  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  people  of  all  professions,  from  all 
over  the  country,  should  keep  in  touch  with  the  institu 
tion  to  learn  from  it  what  books  to  read  and,  if  possible, 
what  teachers  to  listen  to ;  that  this  work  should,  at  the 
same  time  and  in  spite  of  the  funds  it  handles,  remain 
disinterested,  and  preserve  a  religious  inspiration  while 
practising  the  broadest  tolerance ;  that  it  should  by  such 
conduct,  exact  the  admiration  and  encouragement  of  all 
those  the  nation  counts  among  its  eminent  men  in  all 
domains  of  action  or  of  thought, f  brings  out  as  nothing 
else  can  the  moral  and  intellectual  worth,  the  thirst  for 
knowledge  and  true  progress,  that  characterize  in  the 
United  States  the  average  and  major  part  of  the  people, 
that  backbone  of  the  great  democracy  that  holds  it  stiff 
and  straight  amidst  the  equally  redoubtable  dangers  of 
a  coarse  demagogy  and  a  lawless  plutocracy  innocent  of 
bowels  of  compassion. 

*In  1908,  the  thirty-fifth  year  since  the  foundation,  50,000  persons 
came  to  Chautauqua  and  benefited  by  some  of  the  lectures,  concerts, 
readings,  and  spectacles;  and  more  than  2,700  enrolled  for  one  or 
several  of  the  regular  courses  of  teaching. 

tAmong  the  orators  who  have  been  heard  at  Chautauqua  we  may 
mention  Presidents  McKinley,  Roosevelt,  and  Taft,  the  Earl  and 
Countess  of  Aberdeen,  Henry  Drummond,  Father  Doyle,  Bliss  Perry, 
John  Henry  Barrows,  Francis  W.  Peabody,  Booker  T.  Washington, 
and  William  Jennings  Bryan.  The  seriousness  of  these  lectures  does 
not  prevent  wit  from  frequently  stealing  in.  It  is  amusing  to  recall 
the  lecture  on  the  insane  delivered  by  Dr.  P.  S.  Henson  of  Chicago: 
"  I  take  great  pleasure,"  said  Dr.  John  Vincent  in  presenting  him,  "  in 
announcing  a  lecture  on  the  insane  by  one  .  .  .  (general  laughter) 
of  our  most  learned  men."  The  professor,  in  his  turn,  rose  and  began 
thus:  "Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  am  not  so  crazy  as  Bishop  Vincent 
.  .  .  (prolonged  laughter)  would  have  you  believe." 


CHAPTER  IV 

IMPRESSIONS    OF    CHICAGO.      THE    NEW 
WORK  OF  CATHOLIC  EXTENSION 

VIEW  OF  LAKE  MICHIGAN UGLINESS  AND  BEAUTY  OF 

CHICAGO AN  OPTIMISTIC  DOCTOR  AND  CHAUFFEUR 

IN    THE   BELGIAN   COLONY A   GALLIC-CANADIAN 

SERMON  THE  SUBURBS.       NATIONAL  GROUPING 

HOW    A    PARISH    IS    FOUNDED A    GREAT   AND    RICH 

DIOCESE THE  AMERICAN  CLERGY A  NEW  WORK 

OF    CATHOLIC    PROPAGANDA,    THE    EXTENSION  ITS 

NECESSITY,    ITS   ORIGIN,    ITS   RAPID    PROGRESS THE 

HOME  MISSIONS  OF  PROTESTANTS  AND  CATHOLICS 

ENCOURAGING    PERSPECTIVES. 

F>EFORE  leaving  Chicago,  already  visited  four  years 
•*-*  ago,  and  which  is  one  of  my  favorite  cities  —  yes, 
it  is  true !  —  let  me  set  down  some  recollections  of  the 
two  agreeable  weeks  which  I  have  just  passed  there. 
We  will  leave  the  confused  buzz  and  hum  of  machines, 
trains,  and  electric  cars,  and  climb  to  the  top  floor  of 
our  Paulist  Monastery,  and  there,  sure  of  being  no 
longer  visited  by  friends  who  believe  that  we  have 
departed,  let  us  ensconce  ourselves,  overlooking  the 
lake.  There  is  nothing  elegant  about  the  balcony:  the 
columns  are  of  plain  square  iron;  badly  joined  boards  of 

65 


66       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

white  wood  painted  green  serve  as  a  balustrade;  the 
rocking-chairs  combine  the  maximum  of  solidity  with 
the  minimum  of  grace.  Everything  denotes  a  true 
monastic  simplicity.  But  if  you  refrain  from  looking 
too  close  or  too  low,  you  might  think  yourself  on  the 
deck  of  a  ship  at  sea.  The  chimneys,  the  trains,  the 
gray  walls  and  ugly  courts,  all  disappear  from  the  ho 
rizon,  and  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  there  is  nothing 
but  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  two  hundred  and  four 
times  greater  in  extent  than  Lake  Geneva.  Sometimes 
its  waters  are  blue,  sometimes  black,  now  and  then  they 
are  overspread  with  gold  at  sunset  and  silver  under  the 
moonbeams.  To-day  it  is  their  whim  to  be  emerald 
green,  and  nothing  is  more  becoming.  Just  now  the 
lake  is  nearly  void  of  ships,  and  consequently  resembles 
the  ocean  more  than  ever.  I  can  see  nothing  but  the 
far-off  water  works  which  supply  us  with  pure  water, 
and  a  big  white  liner  steaming  toward  Milwaukee.  Oh, 
what  calm,  and  what  a  soft  breeze  right  in  the  midst 
of  millions  of  men  laboring  strenuously  under  the  torrid 
sun  of  late  July ! 

I  do  not  deny  that  Chicago  is  glutted  with  business : 
Chicago  buys,  sells,  manufactures,  and  ships;  Chicago 
has  slaughterhouses  and  canning  factories  where,  the 
author  of  "The  Jungle"  frightens  us  by  relating,  the 
fingers  of  workmen  get  mixed  with  the  pork;  Chicago 
has  manufactures,  offices,  banks,  and  its  shops  are  by 
far  the  largest  in  the  world.  One  could  empty  the 
Louvre  and  the  Bon  Marche  into  Marshall  Field's 
without  filling  its  ten  stories.  And  yet  Chicago  counts 


IMPRESSIONS   OF   CHICAGO       67 

among  its  citizens  some  that  are  destitute,  anarchists, 
unemployed,  crooks,  disabled  immigrants,  and  believers 
in  extravagant  creeds.  There  are  some  streets  that  are 
not  finished,  dirt  roads  that  alternate  between  dust  and 
mud;  on  certain  days,  by  certain  winds,  all  the  smoke 
of  the  city  is  driven  downward  and  turns  the  atmos 
phere  a  sticky  black,  so  that  the  saying  regarding  Pitts- 
burg  is  as  applicable  here :  "  The  question  is  not  how  to 
keep  clean,  but  how  to  get  accustomed  to  being  dirty." 
Yes,  there  is  no  denying  it,  Chicago  is  very  ugly.* 

But  Chicago  is  beautiful  too,  and  in  the  end  its 
beauties  outweigh  its  defects.  There  has  been  a 
marked  progress  in  four  years.  A  greater  number  of 
streets,  even  in  the  worst  quarters,  are  now  asphalted. 
The  worst  quarters'?  There  are  none  comparable  with 
the  tenements  of  Paris  and  London:  for  though  story 
be  piled  on  story  in  the  business  centre,  everywhere 
else  there  are  small  houses,  each,  with  but  few  excep 
tions,  occupied  by  one  family.  And  how  shall  I  de 
scribe  the  abodes  of  luxury,  the  broad  boulevards  with 
their  six  rows  of  greensward  and  flower  beds,  lined  with 
palaces  and  cottages,  each  in  its  own  style  of  architec 
ture,  each  with  its  grounds  and  lawns  and  flowers  never 
walled  in  or  shut  off  from  the  eyes  of  the  passers-by,  all 
of  it  reproducing  ten  times,  twenty  times  over,  the 
Avenue  du  Bois  de  Boulogne  in  Paris'?  Shall  I  ever 
forget  these  large  parks,  so  well  laid  out,  so  well  kept, 

*In  the  rival  cities  they  tell  the  story  of  the  citizen  of  Chicago 
who  on  dying  exclaimed  at  his  first  view  of  the  next  world :  "  After 
all,  heaven  is  not  so  different  from  Chicago!  "  "  Excuse  me,"  some  one 
replied,  "  but  you  are  not  in  heaven." 


68       AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

and  which  on  Sundays  afford  the  working  people  all 
the  benefits  of  the  country*? 

As  to  the  leisure  class,  or  rather  as  to  the  rich,  for  the 
man  of  leisure  does  not  exist  here,  they  have  in  the 
evenings  on  their  return  from  business  (and  their  wives 
have  all  the  day)  unending  roads  to  travel  in  their 
motors  through  the  parks  and  along  the  shores  of  the 
lake,  with  nothing  to  prevent  them  from  running  as  far 
and  as  long  as  they  please,  and  the  tarring  of  the  roads 
prevents  them  and  the  passers-by  from  being  annoyed 
with  dust.  The  four  cities  where  I  have  seen  the  most 
automobiles  are  Paris,  London,  Boston,  and  Chicago. 
And  the  advantage  of  the  last  lies  in  the  fact  that  all 
one's  friends  put  their  cars  at  one's  disposal.  "Just 
telephone,  and  you  shall  have  it  in  five  minutes."  It  is 
true  that  with  such  manners  it  is  impossible  to  refuse 
any  invitation  on  the  score  of  lack  of  time.  How  many 
excuses  I  made  to  get  out  of  preaching  on  Sunday  at  the 
Belgian  Church  of  Saint-Jean  Berchmans!  Just  try 
going  to  the  telephone  to  discuss  the  objections,  try 
asking  to  be  allowed  to  think  it  over,  and  they  will 
tell  you  there  is  only  just  time  to  issue  the  invitations 
and  announcements  for  the  following  day;  try  to  plead 
the  overcrowding  of  your  programme,  and  they  offer 
to  get  you  and  bring  you  back  in  a  motor !  While  you 
are  searching  for  another  way  of  escape,  the  connection 
is  cut,  and  there  you  are,  invited  in  spite  of  yourself! 
If  it  were  a  tea  or  a  dinner  it  would  have  been  the  same 
thing.  Once  plunged  into  the  American  maelstrom  it  is 
simplest  and  best  to  let  oneself  go,  and,  except  in  the 


IMPRESSIONS   OF   CHICAGO       69 

case  of  a  previous  engagement,  to  accept  all  invitations, 
and  usually  it  is  well  worth  while.  For  instance,  on 
this  occasion  I  made  two  interesting  discoveries,  one  of 
a  typical  American  doctor,  and  the  other  of  a  parish  in 
the  formation  stage. 

It  is  Dr.  S.,  indeed,  who  is  deputed  to  take  me  to 
Saint-Jean  Berchmans.  By  calling  him  a  typical  Amer 
ican  doctor  I  do  not  mean  that  all  the  doctors  in  the 
United  States  are  like  him,  for  I  have  seen  many  very 
different;  but  such  as  he  is,  I  do  not  believe  he  could 
have  developed  elsewhere.  Born  in  Ireland,  he  came 
to  Canada  young  and  without  means,  and  there  he 
started  in  business,  like  every  one  else.  But  not  finding 
enough  opening  along  this  line,  he  studied  medicine  and 
took  his  doctor's  degree.  To-day  he  earns  a  thousand 
dollars  a  month,  and  is  not  over  forty.  He  is  a  most 
successful  operator,  and  believes  more  in  surgery  than 
in  medicine;  the  two  things  he  likes  best  in  life  are 
appendicitis  for  his  patients  and  his  automobile  for 
himself.  He  owns  a  handy  little  car  which  he  drives 
himself  and  in  which  he  rolls  around  all  the  time  he 
can  spare  from  his  patients.  He  himself  has  never 
known  worry,  pain,  or  fatigue,  and  he  would  find  it  a 
perfect  world  were  it  not  for  the  speed  laws  and  police 
men.  ' '  Lots  of  fun !  Lots  of  fun !  "  is  his  favorite  ex 
clamation  ;  but,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  lots 
of  most  proper  fun,  open  air,  movement,  exercise,  and 
the  motor.  He  plans  a  trip  to  Europe  when  he  will 
take  me  in  his  car  through  France,  Holland,  Germany, 
and  Italy,  and  I  will  present  him  to  my  French  friends, 


70       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

and  they  will  see  what  fun  it  will  be,  what  lots  of  fun ; 
only  we  must  not  discuss  politics  or  metaphysics;  rather 
we  will  talk  of  hygiene  and  ethics,  or  rather,  for  my 
friend  the  doctor  is  a  practical  man,  fresh  air  and  re 
ligion.  Fresh  air  for  the  body,  and  religion  for  the  soul, 
that  is  his  philosophy,  and  I  defy  any  one  to  find  a 
better.  His  idea  is  that  science,  having  complicated 
our  lives  to  excess,  shall  now  lead  them  back  to  a  more 
primitive  existence;  intentional  simplicity,  naturalness, 
cunningly  regained  and  skilfully  husbanded  —  herein, 
according  to  the  doctor,  lies  the  key  to  all  happiness, 
and  the  solution  of  all  problems.  At  any  rate,  it  is  a 
perfect  doctrine  for  a  Chicago  doctor,  intelligent, 
learned  and  wise,  who  earns  his  twelve  thousand  dol 
lars,  has  no  family  and  plenty  of  health,  and  knows 
how  to  drive  his  own  automobile. 

He  leaves  his  car  in  the  street  opposite  the  church 
with  a  confidence  that  surprises  me.  To  be  sure,  this 
part  of  town  looks  very  deserted  of  a  Sunday  morning, 
one  might  take  it  for  a  part  of  one  of  our  old  provinces, 
except  that  everything  is  new,  and  the  unfinished  is 
substituted  for  the  antique :  sometimes  in  America  one 
seems  to  see  ruins,  but  they  are  always  rising  ruins, 
walls  being  built  up  instead  of  crumbling.  The  very 
church  where  I  am  to  speak  is  not  yet  finished,  the 
sacristy  resembles  a  settler's  cabin;  the  rectory  and 
the  schoolhouse  are  but  wooden  sheds  put  together  as 
well  as  possible.  But  the  ground  is  bought,  and 
there  is  plenty  of  time  ahead.  Besides,  are  not  the 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  CHICAGO      71 

surrounding  streets,  as  well  as  the  boulevard,  still 
under  construction4?  Do  not  buildings  everywhere 
alternate  with  empty  lots?  And  is  not  the  grade- 
crossing  close  by  as  unguarded  as  it  would  be  in  mid- 
country? 

The  history  of  the  quarter,  were  it  to  be  written, 
would  be  divided  into  periods  of  months  and  weeks; 
and  what  happened  two  years  ago  seems  fabulous. 
History  is  of  the  future,  but  of  the  near  future.  We  are 
at  the  end  of  July,  1907  —  the  twenty-eighth  to  be 
exact  —  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  hardly  any 
thing  seems  to  exist  of  this  parish  except  a  zealous 
priest  and  a  few  hundred  Catholics  unknown  to  each 
other;  on  the  fifteenth  of  December  of  the  same  year  (I 
am  tempted  to  give  the  time  —  at  half-past  nine)  the 
church  will  be  solemnly  dedicated  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Chicago;  the  Bishop  of  Covington  will  intone  High 
Mass;  the  Bishop  of  Ogdensburg  will  preach  in  the 
afternoon  at  vespers;  and  the  Bishop  of  Oklahoma  in 
the  evening  at  the  benediction.  I  should  not  be  surprised 
if  the  founder,  my  friend  Father  Julius  de  Vos,  did  not 
begin  to  find  his  life  tame  and  monotonous  in  this 
ready-made  parish.  He  is  the  type  of  the  active,  zeal 
ous  priest,  of  the  city  missionary.  He  already  knows 
his  congregation  individually,  and  after  Mass  he  intro 
duces  me  to  some  excellent  Belgians  who  have  enjoyed, 
they  say,  hearing  the  language  of  their  country  spoken 
so  well.  They  do  not  realize  that  pride  is  the  failing 
of  all  preachers,  even  the  most  mediocre !  And  I  recall 
besides  that  a  French  Canadian  newspaper  praised  my 


72       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

sermon  as  being  "  to  the  utmost  Canadian  and  Gallic  " ! 
Canadian  perhaps,  but  Gallic,*  never! 

While  these  good  Belgians  go  on  loving  our  lan 
guage,  their  children  who  are  presented  to  me  hardly 
understand  it,  and  can  not  speak  it  at  all.  The  poor 
parents  apologize  somewhat  confusedly,  assuring  me 
that  it  is  not  their  fault.  I  knew  it  before,  and  am  less 
surprised  than  they  themselves,  for  I  have  seen  the 
same  phenomenon  everywhere.  Except  for  the  little 
Canadians  all  the  children  of  emigrants  forget  their 
mother  tongue;  at  school  and  amongst  themselves  they 
speak  nothing  but  English ;  to  do  otherwise  would  seem 
to  them  a  token  of  inferiority.  They  are  Americans. 
The  assimilative  power  of  the  United  States  and  the 
ease  with  which  the  former  nationality  is  dropped,  was 
perhaps  most  forcibly  presented  to  me  in  New  Mexico, 
where,  on  a  train,  I  met  a  young  man  and  a  young 
woman  of  about  twenty-five  years  of  age,  both  of  them 
born  in  Kansas,  the  one  of  a  mother  and  the  other  to  a 
father  who  were  French  emigrants.  Not  only  had  the 
two  travellers  kept  up  no  sort  of  family  intercourse  in 
France,  but  they  were  incapable  of  speaking  a  single 
word  of  our  language,  and  they  did  not  know  the  name 
of  either  the  town  or  the  province  where  their  parents 
were  born.  The  utmost  they  could  say  was  that 
the  young  woman  thought  it  must  be  somewhere  near 

*Gaulois  (Gallic)  has  in  French  the  signification  of  coarse, 
brutally  frank,  or  lacking  in  refinement,  with  special  reference  to  jokes 
or  amusing  stories  on  the  subject  of  the  sixth  commandment  (the 
seventh  in  the  Church  of  England). — Translator's  note. 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  CHICAGO      73 

Paris,  undoubtedly  the  only  place  she  knew  by  name  in 
France. 

After  New  York,  Chicago  seems  to  me  to  be  the  city 
receiving  the  greatest  number  of  immigrants.  It  has  a 
host  of  foreign  quarters,  German,  Bohemian,  Polish, 
Belgian,  Italian,  and  a  great  many  others.  Here,  as 
almost  everywhere,  the  Jews  have  their  own  special 
town  where  the  signs  are  all  in  Hebrew  characters. 
Each  nationality  groups  itself  into  different  towns 
which,  added  to  the  business  and  rich  residential  quar 
ters,  makes  up  the  incommensurable  city  of  Chicago. 
The  skeleton  of  the  great  body  seems  formed  of  nothing 
but  railroad  and  tramway  lines  connecting  these  out 
skirts  with  the  centre  of  traffic.  People  speak  of  "going 
into  town"  as  an  inhabitant  of  Clamart  or  Suresnes 
would  speak  of  going  into  Paris,  and,  in  truth,  the 
distance  is  no  less,  although  more  rapidly  covered.  Fur 
thermore,  the  city  is  constantly  gaining  on,  and  absorb 
ing,  the  suburbs  whose  inhabitants  are  thus  driven 
farther  and  farther  into  the  country.  Thus  it  is  that 
Chicago,  raised  in  1837  to  a  city  with  4.170  inhabi 
tants,  now  counts  2,500,000  citizens. 

All  this  is  shown  and  explained  to  me  by  the  Vicar 
General,  Mgr.  Muldoon,  Bishop  of  Tamassus,*  during 

.  *The  Archbishop  of  Chicago,  Mgr.  Quigley,  is  assisted  by  three 
young  bishops.  He  is,  nevertheless,  most  active,  and  is  administrator 
emeritus,  but  one  man  could  not  possibly  compass  the  duties  of  such 
an  absorbing  ministry.  Mgr.  Muldoon  has  since  been  made  Bishop 
of  Rockford,  111.,  and  has  been  replaced  in  Chicago  by  Mgr.  Peter  Paul 
Rhode,  the  first  Pole  who  has  been  raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity 
in  the  United  States. 


74       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

the  interesting  and  instructive  day  that  he  was  kind 
enough  to  devote  to  me. 

The  automobile,  lent  as  well  as  driven  by  an  obliging 
member  of  the  Congregation,  bore  us  over  incredible  dis 
tances.  I  am  not  speaking  of  the  drive  toward  evening, 
which  took  us  nearly  twenty  miles  out  on  the  Mil 
waukee  road  without  our  reaching  the  end  of  the  fine 
residences.  But  during  the  afternoon,  before  taking  this 
restful  drive,  we  studied  the  populous  quarters  of  the 
West  Side,  the  opposite  side  from  the  lake,  where  the 
different  nationalities  passed  one  after  another  before 
our  eyes.  Each  church,  and  each  religious  establish 
ment  (and  we  visited  many)  manifests  vitality  or  a 
revival  of  faith,  in  groups  of  different  language  and 
origin.  "What  do  you  do,"  I  asked  the  Bishop,  "to 
develop  and  maintain  unity  in  such  a  diocese?  "  " The 
fusion  is  accomplished  of  itself,"  he  replied,  "without 
coercion;  more  slowly  with  some,  as  the  Poles  for  in 
stance;  more  rapidly  amongst  others,  but  sure  every 
where  in  the  end.  We  give  the  various  groups  priests 
of  their  own  nationality  when  we  have  them,  or  at 
worst  priests  who  understand  their  tongue.  We  do  not 
impose  either  the  English  language  or  American  cus 
toms;  they  come  to  both  of  their  own  accord,  if  not 
during  the  first  generation,  at  least  by  the  second.  The 
difference  lies  rather  between  the  clergy  educated  in 
our  seminaries  and  those  who  come  to  us  from  Eu 
rope,  but  before  long  the  former  will  be  the  only  ones. 
Over  here  there  is  but  one  Catholicism  as  there  is  but 
one  nation." 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  CHICAGO      75 

I  inquire  now,  with  what  resources  the  parishes  are 
founded.  When  I  was  here  four  years  ago  there  were 
130  in  the  city,  now  there  are  165;  besides  131  parishes, 
46  mission  churches,  6  stations,  and  61  chapels  outside 
of  Chicago. 

"Is  it  the  diocese  that  advances  the  necessary  funds 
for  the  new  parishes?  I  know  it  is  rich." 

"Rich?  Not  so  very,"  replies  Mgr.  Muldoon. 
"Forty- four  million  dollars,  perhaps,  not  more;  but  no 
debts.  We  owe  this  little  fortune  to  the  foresight  of 
the  first  bishops;  the  land  bought  by  them  has  greatly 
increased  in  value.  The  diocese,  founded  in  1843  and 
raised  to  an  Archbishopric  in  1880,  is  administered  by 
the  master  hand  of  Archbishop  Quigley,  whom  you 
would  have  enjoyed  seeing  if  he  were  not  spending  a 
few  weeks  in  the  country.  We  want  only  small  par 
ishes,  the  parish  priest  must  know  his  flock  individ 
ually.  Although  as  a  great  exception  we  have  one 
parish  of  nearly  twenty  thousand  souls  for  the  Poles, 
who  are  anxious  to  stay  together,  our  ideal  is  to  divide 
the  faithful  into  groups  of  four  or  five  hundred  fam 
ilies.  Holding  to  this  principle  and  considering  the 
constant  growth  of  the  population,  you  will  understand 
that  we  often  have  to  found  new  parishes." 

"What  funds  do  you  allow  the  priest  in  charge?" 

"Funds?  None  whatever.  It  is  his  own  under 
taking.  Once  appointed,  he  seeks  a  suitable  lot  to 
build  his  church,  school,  and  presbytery,  and  he  bor 
rows  enough  to  buy  it." 

"From  whom  does  he  borrow?" 


76       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

"  From  the  banks.  First  he  must  submit  his  choice 
of  a  site  to  us,  and  the  choice  being  suitable,  the  arch 
bishopric  approves  and  stands  surety.  Nevertheless,  it 
is  the  priest  who  must  find  the  money  and  pay  it  back. 
He  manages  as  best  he  can,  and  usually  succeeds  pretty 
quickly;  the  people  are  glad  to  have  their  own  parish 
and  are  willing  to  pay  for  it.  You  will  see  that  your 
friend  De  Vos  will  pull  the  affair  through  very  well." 

Everything  the  young  bishop  says  is  alive  with  con 
fidence,  wisdom,  and  zeal,  and  a  fine  practical  knowl 
edge  of  the  present-day  needs  of  Catholicism.  Pro 
vided  the  episcopacy  in  the  United  States  is  recruited 
in  the  future  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  the  Church 
there  will  succeed  as  well  as,  or  better  than,  anywhere 
else  in  the  world. 

Chicago  will  be,  in  fact  already  is,  one  of  the  most 
active  centres  of  Catholic  life.  The  diocese,  more 
than  half  of  which  is  comprised  in  the  city,  counts 
an  archbishop,  3  bishops,  452  secular  priests  and  191 
regular  ones,  296  parishes,  115  churches  or  chapels, 
125  parochial  schools,  and  33  schools;  and  even  these 
statistics,  though  the  latest  I  could  procure,  are  not  up 
to  date.*  The  Chicago  priests  whom  I  met  at  Mgr. 
Muldoon's  and  at  the  Paulists'  at  St.  Jarlath's,  St. 
Malachi's,  St.  John  Berchmans,  and  at  the  Catholic 
Church  Extension  Society  (of  which  we  shall  speak  at 
length  later),  all  combined  great  zeal  with  a  real  dis- 


*The  Catholic  Directory  does  not  give  the  total  number  of  church 
members  of  Chicago,  but  they  may  be  estimated  at  a  million,  the 
number  of  children  attending  Catholic  schools  being  in  1907  97,845. 


IMPRESSIONS   OF   CHICAGO      77 

tinction  of  manner.  Indeed,  in  general,  and  in  spite 
of  what  is  said  to  the  contrary,  the  average  Catholic 
priest  in  the  United  States  is  quite  as  learned  and  more 
of  a  gentleman  than  the  average  in  our  older  countries. 
If  priests  of  great  learning  are  few  as  yet,  as  is  inevi 
table  amid  the  intense  activity  required  in  the  perpetual 
creating  of  new  parishes  and  dioceses,  there  are,  never 
theless,  already  founded  several  large  seminaries  of 
such  value  as  to  have  but  few  equals  in  Europe;  as  for 
instance,  to  speak  only  of  those  I  have  studied,  the  sem 
inaries  at  Rochester,  New  York,  St.  Paul,  Boston,  and 
Baltimore.  So  far,  most  of  the  dioceses  are  reasonable 
enough  to  send  their  students  to  some  well-organized 
seminary  rather  than  to  attempt  to  found  one  at  home  in 
spite  of  the  lack  of  necessary  resources.  It  was  with 
this  same  idea  that  Pius  X  has  obliged  the  small  di 
oceses  of  Italy  to  sacrifice  their  embryonic  seminaries, 
and  that  in  France  recently  the  dioceses  of  Sens  and 
Troyes  gathered  their  seminarists  together  in  one  well- 
equipped  institution. 

Chicago  gave  birth,  in  1905,  to  a  work  of  religious 
propaganda,  which  I  wish  to  describe  at  some  length 
as  being  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  collective  effort 
yet  made  by  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States; 
at  any  rate,  the  one  best  calculated  to  set  forth  and 
develop  its  vital  resources.  I  refer  to  the  Catholic 
Church  Extension  Society.  We  must  go  back  to  the 
first  centuries  of  Christianity  to  find  an  example  of  such 
progress  as  the  Catholic  Church  in  America  has  made  in 


78       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

the  last  hundred  and  twenty  years;  and  yet  it  is  not  sat 
isfied.  But  no  time  is  wasted  in  wondering  where  more 
advancement  might  have  been  made  in  the  past;  it  is 
sufficient  that  from  now  on  more  can,  and  therefore 
shall,  be  accomplished,  and  the  Church  has  found  a 
means  and  has  put  it  into  practice;  it  consists  in  the 
organization  of  a  collective  propaganda  which  diffuses 
over  the  whole  country  the  influence  and  resources  of 
the  privileged  points.  The  Church  is  no  longer  satis 
fied  to  see  some  immensely  rich  dioceses  side  by  side 
with  others  vegetating  in  squalor,  nor  to  have  in  the 
same  diocese  the  country  parishes  neglected,  while 
the  city  ones  float  in  a  golden  flood.  She  regrets  having 
in  some  places  expended  in  luxurious  ornaments  sums 
that  could  better  have  been  employed  in  procuring  the 
necessities  for  a  poorer  parish,  and  she  is  beginning  to 
look  less  complacently  on  opulent  chalices  and  precious 
monstrances  that  have  sometimes  cost  the  price  of  a 
church  or  a  presbytery. 

Without  losing  interest  —  far  from  it — in  the  con 
version  of  the  heathen,  the  American  Church  realizes 
that  the  part  she  takes  in  foreign  missions  must  depend 
primarily  on  the  maintenance  and  expansion  of  the 
faith  among  her  own  people.  In  short,  she  finds  it  less 
urgent  to  subscribe  toward  the  embellishment  of  a 
cathedral  in  Ireland  than  toward  the  building  of  modest 
little  chapels  in  the  rural  districts  at  home  where  it  is 
now  impossible  to  hear  Mass  on  Sunday. 

Nor  can  the  American  Church  be  accused  of  egotism 
on  this  score,  for  the  home  propaganda  is  of  enormous 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  CHICAGO      79 

benefit  to  the  foreign  Catholics  who  come  to  her  by  six 
or  seven  thousand  yearly,  many  of  them  more  destitute 
spiritually  than  materially;  and  if  she  be  prepared  to 
receive  them  all,  them  and  their  children,  in  suitable 
schools  and  churches  not  too  far  apart,  with  priests 
speaking  their  own  language;  if  she  but  keep  them  as 
Catholics  and  even  make  better  Christians  of  them,  in 
twenty-five  years  more  than  half  the  United  States  will 
belong  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

Such  were  the  ideas,  such  the  task  and  the  hopes, 
to  discuss  which  two  archbishops,  two  bishops,  eight 
priests  and  seven  laymen  met  at  the  archbishopric  of 
Chicago  on  the  eighteenth  of  October,  1905.  As  the 
fruit  of  their  deliberations,  a  society  of  propagandism 
was  founded  under  the  presidency  of  the  Archbishops 
of  Chicago  and  Milwaukee,  under  the  effective  direc 
tion  of  a  young  and  active  priest  overflowing  with  prac 
tical  zeal  and  intelligence,  Father  Francis  C.  Kelley, 
and  with  the  disinterested  but  very  effective  coopera 
tion  of  several  business  men,  first  among  whom  was 
Mr.  Ambrose  Petry,  whose  name  is  well  known  in  busi 
ness  circles  of  New  York  and  Detroit.  The  appeal  was 
made,  and  subscriptions  began  to  roll  in:  $116  in  Oc 
tober,  $917  in  November,  $901  in  December,  $2,234 
in  January,  $2,246  in  February,  and  then  $3,000, 
$4,000,  $5,000  a  month.  In  May,  1907,  when  the  ac 
counts  closed  for  that  month  the  Society  had  taken  in 
$5,773;  and  in  the  nineteen  months  since  its  founda 
tion  $46,876  had  been  paid  in,  and  there  were  promises 
of  subscriptions  to  be  paid  later  amounting  to  nearly  a 


8o       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

hundred  thousand  more.  The  Pope  had  solemnly 
blessed  the  Society;  almost  the  entire  Episcopacy,  a 
thousand  priests  and  twelve  thousand  laymen,  had  lent 
a  real  cooperation.  Mr.  Petry  had  already  promised, 
and  has  since  built,  an  ambulatory  chapel  in  the  form 
of  a  Pullman  car,  which  bears  the  blessings  of  the  Word 
of  God,  of  the  Mass  and  the  Sacraments,  to  the  isolated 
inhabitants  of  the  mountains  and  prairies  of  the  West, 
the  Northwest,  and  the  South.  Beginning  with  the 
month  of  April,  1906,  the  Society  has  been  publishing 
a  quarterly  bulletin,  or  rather  review,  called  tfhe  Ex 
tension,  which,  in  the  hands  of  clever  editors,  has  be 
come  the  most  efficacious  instrument  of  propagandism. 
Under  the  heading  "  Between  Friends,"  a  sprightly  chat 
by  President  Kelley,  there  are  set  forth  in  each  num 
ber,  the  progress  of  the  work  and  any  facts  that  may  in 
crease  the  number  or  stimulate  the  zeal  of  its  adherents. 
Tales  of  heroism  are  told,  and  descriptions  given  of  the 
picturesque  life  of  the  pioneer  missionaries  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  the  southern  plains,  Alaska,  Indian  Terri 
tory,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona.  Nothing  is  neglected 
that  may  rouse  the  reader  to  a  realization  of  the  misery 
of  some  country  rectories,  of  the  indigence  of  some  of 
the  churches,  of  the  danger  of  letting  settlers  deprived 
of  religious  consolations  lose  their  faith;  in  short,  of  all 
there  is  to  do,  of  all  that  should  be  done,  and,  by  a  noble 
emulation,  of  what  is  being  done  in  the  same  lines  by 
the  Catholics  of  other  countries  and  the  Protestant 
sects  of  America, 


IMPRESSIONS   OF   CHICAGO       81 

In  fact,  tfhe  Extension  has  recalled  the  examples 
and  lessons  to  be  learned  from  the  French  society  of 
St.  Frangois  de  Sales  and  the  German  society  of  St. 
Boniface;*  but  what  it  lays  particular  stress  upon, 
knowing,  no  doubt,  the  efficacy  of  the  argument,  is  the 
zeal  of  the  Protestants  for  the  promulgation  of  their 
own  faith.  In  the  first  number  the  bulletin  quoted  the 
figures  of  Dr.  H.  K.  Carroll  on  the  progress  of  Chris 
tianity  in  the  United  States  in  1904:  of  a  total  gain  of 
582,878  practising  Christians  and  2,310  churches,  the 
Catholics  count  241,955  faithful  and  226  churches; 
the  Baptists,  85,040  and  469;  the  Methodists,  69,224 
and  178;  the  Episcopalians,  25,381  and  138;  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  7,555  and  79;  and  the  Universalists 
462  and  83.  Thus  the  Catholics,  who  have  gathered 
to  themselves  nearly  one-half  of  the  new  Christians, 
have  scarcely  built  one-tenth  of  the  new  churches.  The 
second  number  of  the  bulletin  quotes  other  figures  even 
more  impressive;  it  estimates  at  three  hundred  million 
dollars  the  sum  expended  since  1798  by  Protestant 
societies  for  Home  Missions.  From  1822  to  1905  The 
Propagation  of  the  Faith  distributed  seventy-one  mil 
lion  dollars,  and  it  may  be  admitted,  according  to  a 
rather  high  estimate  that  all  the  other  Catholic  societies 

*The  excellent  society  of  St.  Francois  de  Sales  was  founded 
in  1857  by  Mgr.  de  Segur,  and  is  now  established  in  all  the  dioceses  of 
France  and  many  elsewhere.  Its  object  is  the  defence  and  preservation 
of  the  faith  in  Catholic  countries,  and  its  activity  lies  in:  ist,  the 
foundation  and  maintenance  of  free  schools  and  societies  for  the 
protection  of  young  people;  2d,  the  support  of  parish  libraries,  the  dif 
fusion  of  good  books  and  objects  of  piety,  and  the  extension  of  pub 
lic  lectures  in  the  parishes.  The  society  of  St.  Boniface  is  analogous 
to  that  of  St.  Francois  de  Sales, 


82       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

together  gave  the  same  amount;  this  would  make  one 
hundred  forty-two  million  dollars  for  all  the  Catholic 
missions  combined,  while  in  the  same  space  of  eighty- 
three  years  the  Protestants  have  expended  two  hundred 
and  thirty-two  million  for  their  own  missions  in  the 
United  States  alone,  or  ninety  million  dollars  more  than 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  spent  for  the  whole 
world.  At  the  present  moment  half  the  Methodist, 
Baptist,  Episcopal,  and  Congregational  parishes  are 
supported  by  the  various  home-missions  societies.  The 
bulletin  for  June,  1909,  brings  out  the  fact  that  in  the 
United  States  1,821,504  Presbyterians  have  built  16,- 
478  churches  and  support  12,723  pastors,  whereas  the 
14,000,000  Catholics  own  only  12,762  churches  with 
15,655  priests. 

The  zealous  promoters  of  the  Catholic  Extension 
are  careful  not  to  draw  humiliating  conclusions  or  re 
proaches  from  these  figures.  They  express  deep  grati 
tude  for  the  tens  of  millions  given  by  their  fathers  to 
the  admirable  work  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith; 
they  know  that  for  many  years  their  churches  could 
count  but  few  faithful,  and  that  there  were  not  enough 
clergy  nor  enough  means  to  suffice  even  for  the  most 
urgent  necessities;  they  understand  how,  under  these 
conditions,  each  bishop  became  absorbed  in  the  care  of 
his  own  diocese,  each  priest  in  the  welfare  of  his  own 
church,  rectory,  and  school,  even  each  layman  in  the 
support  of  the  works  of  his  own  parish.  But  the  time 
seems  to  them,  and  quite  rightly,  to  have  arrived  when 
in  many  cities  if  not  in  all,  the  Catholics,  being  no 


IMPRESSIONS   OF  CHICAGO      83 

longer  engrossed  as  formerly,  in  the  acquiring  of  the 
necessities  of  their  religious  life,  should  consecrate  at 
least  a  part  of  their  surplus  to  the  maintenance  of  a 
home  mission,  to  the  support  of  missionaries  sent  out 
to  any  points  where  they  are  needed,  to  the  sounding 
of  the  call  to  new  churches  of  those  faithful  who  were 
being  lost  from  isolation,  to  the  assuring  the  bread  of 
the  Word  and  of  the  Eucharist  to  souls  fainting  from 
inanition, —  in  a  word,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  that 
ever  increasing  number  of  heathen  in  our  midst  who 
call  themselves  Christians. 

It  has  not  taken  long  for  these  ideas  to  take  root  and 
bear  fruit.  Nothing  seems  to  impede  the  brilliant  and 
rapid  success  of  the  new  apostolic  work;  even  at  the 
height  of  the  financial  panic  subscriptions  continued  to 
flow  in.  At  the  beginning  of  1908,  the  charter  mem 
bers,  who  had  paid  $5,000  each,  numbered  ten;  the 
life  members,  who  paid  $1,000  each,  numbered  more 
than  one  hundred  fifty;  and  many  other  subscriptions 
or  collections  amounted  to  more  than  one  hundred  dol 
lars  each.  An  Easterner  has  just  promised  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  if  another  nine  hundred  thousand 
dollars  were  raised,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
challenge  will  be  taken  up;  during  a  period  of  only 
two  weeks  in  the  month  of  December,  1908,  ten  thou 
sand  small  subscriptions  had  been  handed  in  by  three 
hundred  priests.* 


*More  recent  and  complete  information  as  to  the  development  of 
The  Extension  will  be  found  in  the  account  of  the  congress  held  in 
Chicago  from  November  15  to  18,  1908,  under  the  presidency  of  the 


84       AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

Nor  is  there  any  delay  in  applying  the  funds.  At 
each  meeting  of  the  board  of  governors,  of  whom  the 
Archbishop  of  Chicago  is  the  president,  and  which  is 
composed  of  four  experienced  business  men,  the  ac 
counts  are  verified,  appeals  are  investigated,  and  all  the 
money  remaining  on  hand  is  immediately  distributed 
where  most  needed,  taking  no  thought  for  the  morrow. 
Such  a  course  seems  to  me  truly  apostolic,  while  on  the 
other  hand  a  typically  American  trait  is  displayed :  the 
bishop  of  the  district  is  applied  to  for  information 
relative  to  each  appeal;  the  money  voted  for  a  build 
ing  is  never  paid  until  the  building  is  completely  fin 
ished;  and  no  parish,  no  matter  how  poor,  is  helped 
unless  at  the  same  time  it  helps  itself  to  the  best  of  its 
ability,  however  small  that  may  be;  and,  finally,  the 
board  of  directors  may  not  give  outright  more  than  a 
certain  part  of  the  funds  at  its  disposal,  at  least  one- 
half  being  required  to  be  advanced  as  loans,  and  con 
sequently  returning  at  a  later  date  to  the  Society  for 
redistribution.  I  see,  for  instance,  that  on  the  twelfth 
of  September,  1907,  $20,875  was  voted  in  gifts  and 
$36,000  in  loans,  already  a  considerable  sum  to  be  at 
the  disposal  of  a  work  but  two  years  old;  and  besides 
this,  one  must  take  into  account  the  twenty  thousand 
Masses  distributed  to  priests  having  no  resources,  the 
eighteen  seminarists  educated  to  become  missionaries, 

apostolic  delegate,  Mgr.  Falconio,  and  in  the  presence  of  more  than 
fifty  bishops  and  archbishops.  (J.  S.  Hyland  and  Co.,  Chicago,  pub 
lishers.)  In  July,  1909,  the  bulletin  of  the  Society  relates  that  the 
number  of  charter  members  who  have  subscribed  $5,000  has  advanced 
to  seventeen. 


IMPRESSIONS   OF  CHICAGO      85 

and  the  quantity  of  church  ornaments  and  pamph 
lets  of  the  propaganda  distributed. 

With  the  steady  increase  of  funds,  the  power  for 
good  of  the  young  society  is  rapidly  augmenting,  and 
it  will  not  be  long  before  the  Church  of  Rome  will  have 
nothing  to  envy  the  Protestant  churches,  as  far  as 
their  home  missions  are  concerned;  and  if  already,  even 
without  this  means  of  diffusion,  it  has  developed  two 
or  three  times  as  fast  as  the  most  prosperous  of  the 
Protestant  sects,  what  will  not  now  be  its  progress !  It 
may  in  a  quarter  of  a  century  prevail  over  all  the 
other  confessions  combined,  it  may  make  of  the  United 
States,  according  to  a  dream  that  is  no  longer  merely 
visionary,  the  first  Catholic  nation  of  the  world. 

Among  the  motives  for  hopefulness  which  I  came 
across  in  my  last  trip,  none  seemed  to  me  more  com 
forting  than  the  foundation  of  the  Extension  Society.* 

*Another  thing  that  still  further  increases  this  happy  outlook  is 
the  fertile  work  being  done  all  over  the  United  States  by  the  missions 
for  non-Catholics,  since  the  time  when,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Paulist  Fathers,  Elliott  and  Doyle,  the  Apostolic  Mission  House  of 
Washington  prepares  for  this  work  the  young  priests  who  are  sent 
to  them  by  a  number  of  bishops  for  this  special  purpose.  This  ex 
cellent  work,  which  is  spoken  of  in  "  The  Land  of  the  Strenuous  Life," 
Ch.  XIII,  has  an  organ,  The  Missionary,  published  monthly  in  Wash 
ington.  We  may  note,  too,  as  an  event  full  of  promise,  the  fact  that 
the  bishops  of  Canada  founded  there  also  in  1908  a  Catholic  Extension 
Society. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 

INTELLECTUAL    LIFE HISTORY   OF   THE     UNIVERSITY 

OF     CHICAGO JOHN     D.    ROCKEFELLER'S     TWENTY 

MILLIONS,  AND  THE  EIGHT  MILLIONS  OF  OTHER 
FOUNDERS RESOURCES  AND  BUILDINGS AN  OUT 
LINE  OF  THE  REGULAR  COURSES THE  EXTENSION 

DEPARTMENT THE  SUMMER  TERM  SERMON  OF 

A     CATHOLIC     PRIEST     AT     THE     UNIVERSITY THE 

COMMON  CREED  OF  CHRISTIANS SOCIAL  AND  RE 
LIGIOUS  SCIENCES PROFESSOR  HENDERSON UNI 
VERSITY  SETTLEMENTS DORMITORIES AN  ORIG 
INAL  INSTITUTION:  THE  GREEK  LETTER  FRATER 
NITIES DELTA  UPSILON "THE  DAILY  MAROON," 

A  STUDENTS'  NEWSPAPER  —  THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS. 

A  CITY  giving  birth  to  works  of  such  scope  has  a 
^*"  right  to  be  no  longer  regarded  merely  as  a  centre 
of  production  and  material  riches;  nor  was  this  the 
only  powerful  evidence  of  intellectual  life  that  struck 
me  in  Chicago. 

In  the  homes  of  the  friends  I  made  during  my  first 
visit,  who  are  second  to  none  in  the  Old  World  for 
graciousness  or  quickness  of  wit;  among  the  groups 
of  professors,  lawyers,  and  journalists  whom  I  am  in- 

86 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO       87 

vited  to  meet  by  the  young  editor  of  fhe  tribune,  Mr. 
McCormick,  as  well  as  by  Mr.  O'Keefe,  a  lawyer,  and 
by  the  Dean  of  the  University,  who  replaces  the  Presi 
dent  during  his  holidays;  at  the  Board  of  Education, 
where  Mr.  Megan  very  kindly  explains  to  me  the  or 
ganization  of  public  instruction,  and  how  either  the 
city  or  religious  initiative  supplies  free  secondary  edu 
cation  in  seventeen  high  schools  to  fourteen  thousand 
young  people  of  both  sexes  between  the  ages  of  four 
teen  and  twenty-one*;  everywhere  I  found  evidence 
to  strengthen  my  idea,  by  no  means  original,  that  it 
is  high  time  for  Europe  to  renounce  its  belief  that  it  is 
the  only  part  of  the  world  truly  deserving  of  the  epi 
thet  civilized.  We  have  our  glorious  past,  with  the 
monuments  of  art  which  it  has  sown  through  the 
centuries,  with  the  refinement  that  drop  by  drop  has 
percolated  into  our  souls  as  water  will  wear  away  a 
stone ;  and  I  do  not  pretend  that  the  new  cities  of  Amer 
ica  or  Australia  can  rival  as  yet,  nor  perhaps  ever,  the 
wonderful  beauty  of  Sienna,  Florence,  Paris,  or  Ox 
ford.  But  nevertheless  this  is  no  reason  for  despising 
younger  civilizations  and  looking  upon  any  one  who 
disagrees  with  us  as  a  savage.  On  this  basis  the  Chinese 
could  size  us  up  finely,  as,  by  the  way,  I  believe  they 
do. 

Certain  favorable  circumstances,  a  kind  invitation 
and  friendly  relations  with  professors  and  students, 

*Elementary  education,  which  is  obligatory  until  fourteen  years 
of  age  is  given  at  240  schools.  It  goes  without  saying  that  it  is  free 
here  as  well  as  at  the  evening  schools,  which  are  open  to  every  one 
irrespective  of  age. 


88       AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

having  given  me  the  opportunity  to  observe  the  young 
and  prosperous  University  of  Chicago  at  closer  hand 
than  any  other,  I  wish  to  speak  of  it  at  some  length. 
The  conscientious  effort  made  in  America  to  raise  the 
nation  to  the  highest  possible  pitch  of  moral  and  intel 
lectual  culture  will  probably  be  better  set  forth  in  a 
single  detailed  description  than  in  mere  sketches  of 
several  colleges.  We  have  already  spoken  in  this  book, 
as  well  as  in  its  predecessor,  of  what  is  being  done  for 
the  education  of  the  laboring  classes;  without  excluding 
them  from  this  chapter  (for  there  is  no  American 
institution  in  which  they  are  not  taken  into  considera 
tion),  we  shall  above  all  devote  ourselves  to  discover 
ing  what  young  men  of  means  with  a  taste  for  study 
can  find  to  enable  them  to  pursue  a  higher  education. 
Illinois  possesses  several  centres  for  advanced  study, 
and  among  others,  the  University  of  Illinois  which  is 
supported  by  the  State.  The  University  of  Chicago, 
like  the  greater  number  in  America,  is  absolutely  in 
dependent  of  the  powers  that  be.  The  name  at  first 
belonged  to  an  enterprise  that  failed  and  disappeared 
in  1886.  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller  soon  afterwards 
conceived  the  idea  of  founding,  under  the  same  name, 
a  new  institution  of  which  his  immense  fortune  could 
insure  the  continuance.  Having  elaborated  the  plan 
with  the  late  Mr.  William  R.  Harper,  one  of  the  most 
esteemed  of  American  professors  and  educators,  he  se 
cured  the  cooperation  of  the  Baptist  Educational  So 
ciety,  and  had  the  project  approved  by  it  at  the  annual 
meeting  held  in  Boston,  in  May,  1889.  He  subscribed 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CHICAGO       89 

at  once  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  on  condition 
that  four  hundred  thousand  more  be  raised  before  the 
first  of  June  of  the  following  year. 

The  new  University  was  incorporated  in  September, 
1890,  and  Mr.  Harper  was  elected  president.  It  was 
no  sooner  opened  than  another  donor,  Mr.  William  B. 
Ogden,  bequeathed  it  five  hundred  thousand  dollars; 
two  years  later  Miss  Helen  Culver  of  Chicago  offered 
the  University  a  piece  of  property  valued  at  a  million. 
Shortly  afterwards  Mr.  Rockefeller  gave  another  mil 
lion,  which  he  has  since  followed  up  with  many  others, 
—  his  contributions  to  date  may  be  estimated  to  amount 
to  twenty  million  dollars.  Such  munificence  combined 
with  the  initiative  he  took  in  starting  the  enterprise  ex 
plains  the  mention  added  to  the  official  title  of  the 
University  of  Chicago :  "  founded  by  John  D.  Rocke 
feller."  The  University  pays  but  little  heed  to  the  re 
proaches  heaped  upon  her  as  to  her  origin  or  to  her 
nickname  of  Oil  University.  Without  taking  into  con 
sideration  that  money  made  in  selling  oil  might  find 
many  worse  uses  than  the  encouragement  of  higher 
education,  it  is  not  true  that  the  young  college  has  given 
the  celebrated  millionaire  a  lien  on  its  independence, 
nor  even  that  it  owes  its  existence  to  him  alone.  Gifts 
from  other  sources  reach  the  considerable  sum  of  eight 
million  dollars  and  the  larger  among  them  have  won 
for  their  donors  the  honor  of  having  Halls,  Chairs, 
and  endowments  named  after  them,  and  which  are 
not  in  the  least  overshadowed  by  the  much-discussed 
name  nor  the  clean-shaven  face  of  the  Oil  King. 


90       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

The  sixteen  years  of  existence  of  which  the  Univer 
sity  of  Chicago  can  boast  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  give 
it,  for  America,  an  air  ancient  and  honorable  and  full 
of  tradition.  Judging  by  the  quality  of  the  professors 
and  the  number  of  students,  by  the  abundance  and  ex 
cellent  organization  of  the  courses,  by  the  completeness 
of  outfit,  and  the  extent  and  dignity  of  the  buildings, 
one  hesitates  to  recognize  it  for  what  it  neverthe 
less  is,  an  improvisation — the  improvisation,  to  be 
sure,  of  an  educator  of  the  first  order  and  of  an  inex 
haustible  Maecenas.  The  cask  of  the  Danaides  lost 
everything  that  was  dropped  into  it;  certain  American 
fortunes  seem  to  keep  all  that  is  withdrawn  from  them. 

The  University  of  Chicago  has  made  good  use  of 
its  thirty  millions.  It  is  now  almost  self-supporting 
with  the  normal  interest  on  its  investments,  so  that  we 
see  that  in  the  last  year  its  deficit  amounted  to  $191,- 
345  only,  so  that  the  greater  part  of  recent  or  future 
gifts  will  go  toward  new  endowments.  Although  the 
state  of  the  budget,  under  such  circumstances,  is  not 
what  would  most  surprise  the  rectors  of  a  French  uni 
versity,  still  the  financial  question  necessarily  affects 
so  largely  the  other  issues,  that  a  few  words  on  the 
subject  will  not  be  out  of  place.  From  the  first  of 
July,  1905,  to  the  thirtieth  of  June,  1906,  the  receipts 
amounted  to  $2,796,791  and  the  expenses  to  $2,988,- 
136.  The  personal  property  consists  of  $4,400,117 
invested  in  gilt-edge  securities  and  bringing  in  an  aver 
age  income  of  4.17  per  cent.  The  real  estate  amounts 
to  $3,889,918,  and  the  value  of  the  University 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO        91 

buildings  is  estimated  at  $4,422,874.  There  are  more 
than  sixty-six  acres  of  land  that,  with  the  improve 
ments,  cost  $2,761,803. 

The  last  two  figures  are  rather  imposing.  A  uni 
versity  whose  buildings  and  site  cost  more  than  seven 
millions  cannot  be  considered  commonplace. 

The  University  of  Chicago  is  situated  at  the  out 
skirts  of  the  town,  on  the  Midway  Plaisance,  a  superb 
avenue  uniting  the  immense  tracts  of  Washington  Park 
and  Jackson  Park,  and  which,  with  its  broad  lawns 
and  many  trees,  offers  in  itself  a  splendid  promenade. 
Here  have  sprung  up  in  well  planned  irregularity  the 
twenty-odd  buildings  in  which  the  intellectual,  moral, 
and  material  life  of  the  University  is  carried  on. 
Separated  from  each  other  by  groves  and  green  lawns, 
they  have  done  everything  possible  to  recall  Oxford 
and  Cambridge ;  and  did  they  not  so  patently  lack  an 
tiquity,  they  would  succeed  even  better,  for  they  are  all 
built  in  the  English  Renaissance  style.  Thanks,  how 
ever,  to  the  nobility  and  dignity  of  this  style  of  archi 
tecture,  the  newness  is  not  glaring;  and  one  hardly 
misses,  in  spite  of  its  picturesqueness,  the  grayness,  or 
blackness,  with  which  the  corroding  fogs  of  England 
drape  her  walls.  Even  now  in  their  solemn  youth, 
some  of  the  buildings  such  as  the  Physical  and  Chemi 
cal  Laboratories  and  Mandel  Hall,  can  be  compared 
not  too  unfavorably  with  the  finest  Oxford  halls  of 
Balliol  or  New  College;  and  the  Mitchell  Tower,  seen 
from  Hull  Court,  is  an  exceedingly  fine  replica  of  the 
divine  tower  of  Magdalen. 


92        AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

The  outlines  of  the  tuition,  less  rigid  than  in  the  Old 
World,  allow  American  universities  to  offer  a  far 
broader  and  more  varied  instruction  than  can  be  ob 
tained  at  ours.  Speaking  of  the  University  of  Chi 
cago  alone,  there  is  hardly  anything  except  architecture, 
agriculture,  and  engineering  that  cannot  be  studied 
there.  Art,  literature,  science,  divinity,  law,  educa 
tion,  commerce,  and  administration,  form  so  many  dis 
tinct  faculties,  and  there  is  a  special  one  besides,  under 
the  name  of  the  United  Faculty  of  Junior  Colleges,  to 
look  out  for  the  students  of  the  freshman  and  sopho 
more  years.  Any  one  interested  in  knowing  more  de 
tails  than  can  be  here  set  forth,  is  referred  to  the 
Annual  Register,  a  pamphlet  of  484  pages  of  exact  in 
formation  as  to  all  the  University  offers.  Here,  space 
prevents  our  saying  more  than  that  the  faculties  are 
divided  into  sixty-one  departments  of  special  instruc 
tion,  in  which  are  taught  all  the  regular  subjects  which 
are  given  in  the  programmes  of  our  French  faculties  — 
letters,  science,  law,  medicine,  and  theology  even  — 
and  those  of  most  of  our  large  schools.  I  have  not 
had  the  patience  to  count  the  number  of  professors, 
but  there  seem  to  me  to  be  no  fewer  than  five  hundred, 
and  some  give  several  courses.  The  necessary  imple 
ments  of  work  are  as  plentiful  as  the  professors:  in 
April,  1907,  the  library  contained  447,166  volumes,* 
and  received  1,500  periodicals;  of  chemistry,  physics, 

*A  pretty  exact  idea  of  the  regular  growth  of  the  library  can  be 
formed  from  the  fact  that  during  the  months  of  October,  November, 
and  December,  1908,  3,141  volumes  were  purchased,  while  1,272  were 
given,  and  237  acquired  by  exchange. 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO       93 

and  the  biological  sciences  each  has  its  own  laboratory ; 
just  as  of  geology  and  orientalism  each  has  its  museum, 
and  astronomy  has  its  observatory. 

It  can  be  seen  that  the  whole  organization  is  laid  out 
on  a  magnificent  scale,  and  testifies  to  an  implicit  con 
fidence  in  the  future.  The  rapid  increase  of  students 
justifies  such  a  faith.  The  first  year  1892-93  the  num 
ber  of  students  entered  in  the  college  and  graduate 
classes  was  698.  The  following  years  the  number 
increased  to  920,  1,347,  1,815,  1,880,  2,307,  2,959, 
and  over  3,000  in  1899-1900.  In  1905-6,  there  were 
5,079;  of  whom  483  followed  the  graduate  courses; 
1,737  were  there  for  the  summer  term  only;  leaving 
2,859  students  following  the  ordinary  collegiate  course. 

To  this  regular  and  direct  teaching  must  be  added 
the  Extension  Department.  The  University  Extension 
consists,  as  we  have  already  shown,  in  shedding  the 
light  of  higher  education  outside  the  University  by 
means  of  travelling  lecturers,  correspondence  courses, 
directed  reading,  and  the  loan  of  books.  This  system 
has  existed  for  a  long  time  in  England,  where  it  orig 
inated,  and  it  has  even  found  its  way  into  the  practice 
of  a  few  French  universities;  it  is  too  democratic  not 
to  appeal  to,  and  spread  rapidly  among,  Americans, 
and  we  have  already  seen  the  system  working  with 
great  success  at  Chautauqua.  The  University  of  Chi 
cago  adopted  it  from  the  outset.  In  1906-7  there  are 
6,000  books  sent  out  in  circulation  and  191  courses 
of  six  lessons  each  were  given  to  51,772  auditors  in 
147  different  centres.  Chicago  itself  heard  37,  the 


94       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

rest  of  Illinois  27,  Michigan  21,  and  the  62  others 
were  distributed  all  over  the  country,  California  hav 
ing  4,  and  the  far-away  State  of  Washington  even 
hearing  one.  The  total  number  of  Extension  courses 
since  1892  amounts  to  2,325,  which  makes  no  less  than 
13,950  lessons. 

The  summer  term,  which,  I  believe,  exists  nowhere 
else,  must  not  be  confused  with  the  Extension.  The 
University  of  Chicago  does  not  admit  of  long  vaca 
tions.  The  school  year  is  divided  into  four  terms  of 
twelve  weeks  each.  The  autumn  and  winter  terms 
are  each  followed  by  a  week  of  rest,  and  the  holidays 
at  the  end  of  the  summer  term  are  somewhat  longer, 
but  there  is  no  break  at  the  end  of  the  spring  term. 
Each  term  begins  with  new  matriculations  and  ends 
with  examinations,  as  if  it  constituted  a  complete  year 
in  itself.  The  principal  reason  for  this  custom  is  the 
desire  to  make  university  education  and  degrees  acces 
sible  to  more  people,  while  at  the  same  time  uphold 
ing  the  high  standard.  The  summer  term,  without 
being  closed  to  the  regular  students,  is  especially  de 
signed  for  those  who  are  not  free  at  other  times  of  the 
year,  notably  for  teachers  of  the  elementary  grades. 
In  three  months,  or  even  six  weeks  per  year  (for  the 
summer  term  has,  on  their  account  been  divided 
into  halves),  these  exceptional  students  will  no  doubt 
not  advance  very  rapidly,  but  they  will  nevertheless, 
if  they  persist,  receive  the  benefit  of  a  higher  education. 
Again,  as  in  the  high  schools,  it  is  the  American  idea 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO       95 

of  equalizing  the  chances  for  those  who  are  truly  ca 
pable. 

The  summer  term  is  therefore  not  the  same  as  a 
summer  meeting,  a  special  and  popularized  form  of 
teaching  established  at  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  of  Caen,  Grenoble,  and  even  Paris.  The 
summer  term  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  whole 
university  life,  and  the  schools  of  law,  medicine,  divin 
ity,  philosophy,  and  fine  arts  are  open,  as  during  the 
rest  of  the  year.  On  account,  however,  of  the  great 
number  of  teachers,  both  male  and  female,  who  attend 
this  term,  the  regular  educational  courses  are  the 
favorites. 

Furthermore  the  University  takes  into  consideration 
the  time  of  year,  and  offers  the  students  some  relaxa 
tion  in  the  form  of  concerts,  Shakespearean  representa 
tions,  and  free  lectures,  as  many  as  four  or  five  a  day. 
It  was  in  this  last  series  that  I  was  invited  to  speak  on 
the  political  and  religious  situation  in  France  of  to 
day.  As  may  be  seen  these  diversions  are  far  from 
being  frivolous,  and  the  audience,  composed  of  society 
people,  professors,  students,  and  clergymen,  did  not 
impress  me  as  different  from  that  attending  the  public 
courses  in  other  universities  in  the  midst  of  the  school 
year.* 

On  Sundays  there  are  no  lectures,  only  a  sermon, 
and  I  had  the  honor  of  being  once  the  University 
preacher;  and,  trusting  that  my  readers  will  be  willing 

*Most  American  universities,  unlike  the  French,  do  not  offer  free 
public  courses. 


96       AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

to  put  aside  their  prejudices  in  order  to  appreciate,  for 
itself  alone,  a  situation  which  has  no  analogy  with  us, 
I  am  going  to  recount,  with  perfect  candor,  the  most 
touching  experience  of  my  whole  trip. 

When  Professor  Henderson,  who  is  at  the  head  of 
the  religious  teaching  and  services,  invited  me  by  letter 
to  preach  trie  University  sermon  on  Sunday  the  twenty- 
first  of  July,  he  did  not  fail  to  tell  me  that  all  the  re 
quirements  of  our  Church  would  be  taken  into  account, 
and  furthermore  that  they  had  already  listened,  under 
the  same  conditions,  to  a  Catholic  orator,  the  illus 
trious  Bishop  of  Peoria;  and  finally  —  decisive  con 
sideration —  that  the  ceremony  would  not  be  held  in 
church,  but  in  the  most  beautiful  concert  and  lecture 
hall.  I  accepted,  with  the  request  that  all  should  be 
conducted  as  for  Mgr.  Spalding.  Consequently  it  was 
agreed  that  I  should  not  come  in  until  the  end  of  the 
prayers,  and  that  there  should  be  a  marked  interval 
between  the  service  and  my  sermon. 

Providence  permitted  it  to  turn  out  better  still,  so 
that,  without  hurting  the  convictions  of  my  dissenting 
brethren,  there  was  nothing  that  was  not  Catholic 
throughout  the  entire  ceremony.  The  day  before,  I 
had  no  sooner  arrived  at  the  house  of  my  dear  Paulists 
than  I  received  a  visit  from  Mr.  Henderson.  After 
the  first  friendly  effusions, —  for  he  is  a  friend  of  mine, 
and  all  who  know  him  will  understand  that  I  am 
proud  to  say  so  —  he  spoke  to  me  of  the  ceremony.  I 
begged  the  Superior  of  the  Paulists,  Father  O'Callag- 
han,  to  stay  and  give  me  his  advice.  Being  a  former 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO       97 

Harvard  student,  and  having  had  to  deliver  a  sermon 
in  that  celebrated  university,  as  remarkable  for  its 
breadth  of  view  as  for  its  doctrinal  and  disciplinary 
soundness,  he  was  the  person  best  qualified  to  judge 
of  the  situation. 

"So  it  is  understood,"  said  Mr.  Henderson,  "that 
they  will  come  to  get  you  at  the  end  of  the  prayers  and 
hymns?  Or  do  you  wish  to  read  the  prayers,  and 
choose  the  Psalms  and  hymns,  and  conduct  the  whole 
service  yourself?" 

This  last  proposition  tempted  me  strongly.  I  ac 
knowledged  as  much,  but  added  that  with  my  igno 
rance  of  the  customs  and  my  imperfect  command  of  the 
language,  I  would  not  be  able  to  carry  it  through  prop 
erly.  "  If  the  Father  Superior,"  I  continued,  "  would 
and  could  come  himself  —  "  Mr.  Henderson  unhes 
itatingly  joined  his  request  to  mine,  and  it  was  ac 
cepted.  Father  O'Callaghan  who  was  to  preach  at  the 
same  hour  in  his  own  church,  gave  his  pulpit  to  a 
French  missionary  to  Japan  who  was  very  anxious  to 
speak  and  take  up  a  collection  for  his  work.  Every 
thing  was  working  out  well,  and  I  left  the  details  to 
be  settled  by  my  two  friends. 

On  Sunday  at  eleven  o'clock,  preceded  by  choristers 
and  professors  in  cap  and  gown,  we,  Father  O'Callag 
han  and  I,  in  our  soutanes  and  birettas,  proceeded  up 
the  immense  nave  of  Mandel  Hall  where  was  gathered 
a  crowd  of  two  thousand  persons,  sympathetic  and  a 
little  curious,  probably  one-third  of  them  Catholics 
and  the  remaining  two-thirds  Protestants.  The  pro- 


98       AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

cession  having  arrived  at  the  chancel,  hymns  and 
Psalms,  given  out  by  the  Superior  of  the  Paulists, 
were  sung.  Afterwards,  he  spoke  a  few  words  to  bring 
out  the  touching  character  of  the  meeting,  and  he  read 
in  a  penetrating  tone  of  voice  the  seventeenth  chapter 
of  St.  John:  "That  they  all  may  be  one;  as  thou, 
Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee  .  .  .  And  the 
glory  which  thou  gavest  me  I  have  given  them;  that 
they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one:  I  in  them,  and 
thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one; 
and  that  the  world  may  know  that  thou  hast  sent  me, 
and  hast  loved  them,  as  thou  hast  loved  me.  Father, 
I  will  that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with 
me  where  I  am  .  .  .  And  I  have  declared  unto  them 
thy  name,  and  will  declare  it;  that  the  love  where 
with  thou  hast  loved  me  may  be  in  them,  and  I  in 
them." 

These  divine  words,  which  were  in  themselves  a 
commentary  on  such  an  assembly,  caused  a  sort  of 
current  to  pass  through  all  hearts,  uniting  them  as 
by  induction,  and  it  became  evident  that  the  holy 
words  had  produced,  with  the  efficacity  of  a  Sacra 
ment,  the  very  oneness  they  described.  Father  O'Cal- 
laghan  added,  translating  the  common  emotion :  O  Lord 
let  us  never  hate  one  another  in  fhy  Holy  Name; 
than  he  began  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  which  the  entire 
assembly  joined. 

The  time  having  come  to  reveal  the  Word  of  God, 
they  sang,  to  draw  down  the  heavenly  lights,  New 
man's  beautiful  hymn: 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CHICAGO       99 

"  Lead,  kindly  light,  amid  the  encircling  gloom, 
Lead  thou  me  on  !  " 

And  I  recalled  having  heard  this  same  hymn  in  Lon 
don,  twelve  years  earlier  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
while  lost  in  a  throng  which  my  priest's  soul  yearned 
and  longed  to  apostrophize;  I  remembered  that,  after 
a  cold  and  solemn  sermon,  seeing  the  multitude  bow 
down  under  a  formula  of  benediction,  I  myself  pro 
nounced  the  sacred  words  in  an  undertone,  praying 
God  that  they  might  be  fulfilled.  And  behold  the 
dream  is  being  realized,  realized  in  a  broader  applica 
tion;  here,  in  one  of  the  greatest  cities  of  this  New 
World,  to  which  I  have  always  felt  myself  sent  forth, 
is  an  attentive,  religious  audience,  desiring  of  me  the 
words  of  love  and  truth.  It  seemed  to  me  that  had  I 
but  been  sufficiently  master  of  the  language,  my  voice 
would  easily  have  found  the  way  to  their  hearts,  and  I 
should  have  inflamed  them  with  the  sentiments  that 
were  burning  in  me. 

But,  obliged  as  I  was  to  stick  to  the  sermon  I  had 
prepared,  I  at  least  had  the  consolation  of  thinking 
that  it  harmonized  with  the  occasion,  and,  in  default 
of  other  qualities,  it  was  with  deep  conviction  that  the 
poor  envoy  of  God  acquitted  himself  of  his  message. 

I  had  taken  as  a  subject  the  Common  Creed  of 
Christendom,  that  is  to  say  the  Apostles'  Creed,  kept  in 
the  same  terms  by  Catholics  and  the  various  branches 
of  Protestantism.  After  having  clearly  declared 
"  that  the  friendship  attested  by  this  meeting  rested  on 
no  misunderstanding,  that  there  was  no  question  of  not 


ioo     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

realizing  our  too  real  difference  (notably  concerning 
religious  authority),  I  recalled  the  fact  that  we  all, 
as  Christians,  held  in  common  the  respect  of  the  same 
holy  books,  the  same  moral  teaching  (that  of  the 
Decalogue  and  the  Gospels)  and  above  all,  the  same 
formula  of  faith,  the  Common  Creed  of  Christendom. 
I  tried  to  set  forth  the  glorious  path  of  this  symbol  of 
the  Apostles  through  all  the  ages,  from  the  times  of 
the  catacombs,  the  conversion  of  Roman  emperors  and 
barbarian  hordes,  from  Saint  Irenseus  and  Tertullian 
down  to  our  own  days.  And  I  added:  "At  the  Cape, 
at  Melbourne,  at  New  York,  the  Creed  of  the  martyrs 
of  Rome  and  Antioch  and  Lyons  is  being  recited;  and 
to-day  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  comes  from  the  banks 
of  the  Seine  to  the  banks  of  Lake  Michigan,  from 
ancient  Lutetia  to  young  Chicago,  to  glorify  the  same 
symbol  of  the  Apostles  before  Christians,  for  the  most 
part  separated  from  him  on  many  points,  but  happy  to 
repeat  with  him,  or  rather,  with  the  chosen  of  human 
ity:  I  believe  in  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  and  in 
Jesus  Christ,  His  only  Son,  our  Lord." 

At  greater  length  than  I  devoted  to  these  external 
glories  of  our  common  Creed,  I  tried  to  trace  the  inner 
beauty,  and  to  set  forth  the  magnificent  synthesis  of 
truths  that  it  affirms:  The  inward  life  of  God  in  the 
Trinity;  the  absolute  elevation  of  humanity  and  all 
creation  to  this  supreme  life  in  Christ,  the  incarnate 
God;  the  communication  of  this  same  life  to  each  of  us 
by  the  Redeemer  and  by  the  means  of  grace  which  give 
us  the  benefit  of  His  merits;  and  finally  the  beauty  of 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO      101 

the  Providential  plan  which  henceforth  and  forever 
binds  us  to  each  other  and  Christ  by  the  communion 
of  saints, —  which  even  raises  material  creation  to  God 
through  the  resurrection  of  the  body, —  and  which  has 
prepared  for  us  the  perfection  of  unity  and  happiness 
in  the  possession  of  eternal  life. 

I  expressed  the  hope  that  such  goodness  of  God 
should,  as  it  became  better  understood,  increase  our 
love  for  Him  and  our  charity  toward  each  other;  I 
prayed  "  that  from  day  to  day  our  common  faith  might 
grow  greater  in  this  admirable  symbol  of  the  Apostles, 
which,  in  spite  of  so  many  separations,  remains  for  us 
all  the  indelible  sign  of  the  fraternity  among  the  dis 
ciples  of  Christ,  the  star  to  guide  our  steps  toward  our 
common  Home  and  which  gleams  so  high  in  the  sky 
that  it  may  be  seen  of  all."  "  Honor  to  you  who  be 
lieve,"  I  cried  in  closing,  and  added,  "  Honor  also  to 
our  belief,  honor  to  our  symbol,  faithfully  guarded, 
the  most  precious  jewel  of  our  ancient  patrimony,  the 
touching  souvenir  of  union  in  the  past,  the  pledge  and 
promise  of  reunion  in  the  future." 

In  concluding,  the  inspiration  came  to  me  to  propose 
that  we  recite  together  our  Creed,  and  this  was  done  as 
with  one  voice,  from  one  heart  with  a  solemnity  and 
emotion  which  I  shall  never  forget. 

Examples  of  tolerance,  such  as  the  one  I  have  just 
described,  are  too  easily  associated  in  the  minds  of 
Frenchmen  with  the  idea  of  scepticism,  or  at  least 
indifference.  Faith  on  one  side,  unbelief  on  the  other, 


102     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

usually  appear  to  them  under  a  combative  form,  and 
they  would  be  much  surprised  to  learn  that  the  Univer 
sity  where  a  Catholic  priest  received  such  a  welcome 
without  concealing  one  of  his  principles,  is  one  of  the 
few  in  the  United  States  which  are  affiliated  to  a  spe 
cial  Protestant  sect.  It  is  true  that  at  this  University, 
as  at  most  of  the  others,  a  number  of  masters  and  stu 
dents  have  lost  all  practical  faith;  nor  does  the  Univer 
sity  require  an  expression  of  belief  under  pain  of 
exclusion;  but,  apart  from  the  fact  that  no  one  within 
the  precincts  would  be  allowed  openly  to  combat  re 
ligion  as  such  (resembling  in  this  most  of  the  schools 
of  the  country),  the  action  of  the  different  churches 
which  desire  to  look  after  the  students  is  encouraged, 
and  the  University  itself,  in  a  positive  and  official  man 
ner,  gives  religious  instruction  according  to  the  tenets 
of  the  Baptist  Church.  When  Mr.  Rockefeller  sub 
scribed  his  first  gift  of  one  million  dollars  he  stipulated 
that  the  Baptist  Theological  Union,  established  at 
Chicago  since  1867,  should  become  the  Divinity 
School  of  the  new  University,  and  that  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  should  be  consecrated  to  this  trans 
formation.  The  Divinity  School  comprises,  besides,  an 
English  Seminary,  a  Swedish  Seminary,  a  Danish-Nor 
wegian  Seminary,  and  finally  the  College  of  Religious 
and  Social  Science. 

Together  with  the  sciences  auxiliary  to  theology, 
such  as  Oriental  languages,  the  seminaries  naturally 
hold  courses  in  dogma,  ethics,  exegesis,  homiletics,  pas 
toral  theology,  and  religious  history.  But  the  institu- 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO      103 

tion  in  this  group  which  will  seem  farthest  from  our 
categories,  is  certainly  the  College  of  Religious  and 
Social  Science.  The  students  to  whom  this  course  is 
especially  offered,  we  read  in  an  official  document,  are : 
(i)  those  who  are  preparing  themselves  to  become 
secretaries  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  or  to  occupy  similar 
positions;  (2)  those  intending  to  practise  medicine  in 
some  missionary  country,  and  who  are  studying  in  the 
medical  school  at  the  same  time;  (3)  those  preparing 
themselves  to  enter  the  parochial  missions,  and  who 
have  been  prevented  by  age  or  other  circumstances 
from  devoting  the  time  usually  required  in  the  sem 
inaries;  (4)  those  who  purpose  to  collaborate  with 
philanthropic  works,  by  becoming  board  members  of 
charity  associations,  or  teaching,  either  religious  or  sec 
ular  subjects,  in  penitentiaries.  We  find  on  the  pro 
gramme  of  the  first  two  years  (with  some  variations 
according  to  whether  one  wishes  to  enter  the  ministry 
or  not,  the  study  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
political  economy,  social  science,  history,  Greek,  mod 
ern  languages,  hygiene,  and  public  speaking.  In  the 
higher  courses  the  same  subjects  are  taught  in  a  more 
advanced  degree,  and,  besides,  philosophy,  psychology, 
pedagogy,  homiletics,  religious  history,  and  ecclesias 
tical  sociology.  The  professor  and  director  of  this 
department  is  Mr.  Charles  R.  Henderson,  whose  inves 
tigations  in  Europe,  as  well  as  his  publications,  notably 
that  on  the  "  Social  Spirit  in  America,"  have  earned 
him  a  world-wide  reputation.  I  would  not  risk  wound 
ing  his  modesty  by  again  naming  him  apart  from  his 


104     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

colleagues,  had  he  not  left  in  Germany,  London,  and 
Paris  many  precious  friendships,  and  shown  to  what  a 
degree  of  moral  and  intellectual  supremacy  these  Amer 
icans  can  arrive,  whom  we  look  upon  as  educated 
barbarians. 

Mr.  Henderson  bears  the  official  title  of  Chaplain, 
and  it  is  he  who  has  charge  of  the  religious  agencies  of 
the  University.  Under  this  head  he  gives  account,  in 
an  annual  report,  of  the  Sunday  morning  services,  of 
the  sermons  delivered  by  speakers  from  all  the  States; 
of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  com 
posed  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  girl  students;  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  which  meets  every 
Thursday  evening  and  has  organized  a  Bible  Class  of 
a  hundred  and  twenty-five  members;  of  the  Band  of 
Voluntary  Students,  who  interest  themselves  in  Mis 
sions;  and  of  a  more  general  association  known  as  the 
Christian  Union,  which  seeks  to  promote  all  these  re 
ligious  and  philanthropic  activities.  He  devotes  the 
end  of  his  report  to  the  interesting  work  of  the  College 
Settlement,  established  fourteen  years  ago  southwest  of 
the  Stock  Yards,  and  which  has  accomplished  so  much, 
as  well  for  the  moral  education  as  for  the  physical  wel 
fare  of  both  children  and  adults  in  this  the  most  miser 
able  quarter  of  the  city.  Thirty  or  forty  thousand 
workmen  live  there,  of  whom  three-fifths,  recently 
arrived  from  Europe,  are  ignorant  to  the  utmost  degree 
and  completely  disorganized.  How  can  one  help  ad 
miring  the  young  men,  and  the  still  more  numerous 
young  women,  who  establish  themselves,  temporarily 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO      105 

or  even  permanently,  among  these  miserable  creatures, 
upholding  their  interests  with  their  employers,  with 
the  municipality,  even  with  the  legislature,  and  some 
times  with  the  President  of  the  United  States;  trying 
to  moralize  them,  their  women,  and  their  chil 
dren;  gathering  under  their  wing  unfortunate  girls, 
orphans,  and  the  interesting  frequenters  of  the  juvenile 
courts'? 

I  notice  by  chance  in  a  newspaper  that  on  the 
eleventh  of  January,  1908,  the  devoted  president  of 
the  settlement,  Miss  Mary  E.  McDowell,  received  a 
visit  from  about  six  hundred  University  students  of 
both  sexes,  in  whose  honor  a  fete  was  given  by  her  little 
charges;  but  she  made  a  special  point  of  explaining  to 
her  guests  the  good  done,  and  to  be  done  for  the  educa 
tion  and  the  civilization  of  these  people,  who  should  be 
enabled  to  find,  what  they  have  come  to  America  to 
seek,  a  life  superior  to  that  in  which  they  languished  in 
the  Old  World.  Mr.  Henderson  in  his  report  for  1906 
very  rightly  says:  "  One  cannot  exaggerate  the  religious 
and  social  development  gained  by  our  thousands  of 
young  men  and  women  in  taking  an  active  part  in  phil 
anthropic  work;  nothing  does  them  so  much  good,  not 
even  the  study  of  the  history  or  theory  of  religion  and 
social  progress." 

Such  language  sets  forth  clearly  that  the  University 
of  Chicago  does  not  consider  that  it  has  done  its  whole 
duty  toward  its  students  in  setting  before  them  the 
means  of  education.  No  part  of  their  development 
is  indifferent  to  it.  While  preaching  the  faith  it  be- 


106     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

lieves  to  be  the  best,  it  invites  all  other  churches  freely 
to  express  themselves  in  public  lectures,  as  well  as  to 
attend  privately  to  their  own  faithful.  My  own  ser 
mon  sufficiently  demonstrated  the  first  point;  and  as 
to  the  second,  I  have  heard  representatives  of  the 
University  state  (and  they  have  authorized  me  to 
repeat  it)  that  they  would  be  very  glad  if  the  Arch 
bishop  would  delegate  a  priest  to  take  official  charge 
of  the  Catholic  students.  There  is  ground  for  believ 
ing  that  this  project  will  be  carried  out,  as  it  has  been 
at  Harvard,  at  the  University  of  California,  and  at 
Cornell  in  the  diocese  of  Rochester. 

It  is  clear,  from  the  preceding  paragraphs,  that  the 
University  is  interested  in  the  religious  life  of  its  stu 
dents.  Let  us  now  inquire  how  it  goes  about  meeting 
their  other  requirements  and  giving  them  opportunities 
for  development  along  all  lines. 

I  will  not  dwell  on  the  sumptuous  gymnasiums  and 
grounds  for  games  and  physical  exercises,  all  in  the 
University  precincts, —  these  at  an  American  college 
are  the  rule  and  not  the  exception.  But  what  struck 
me  as  being  quite  characteristic  is  the  way  in  which  the 
life  of  the  students  is  laid  out  so  that  they  should  feel 
constantly  responsible  for  themselves  and  at  the  same 
time  run  no  risk  of  isolation.  The  apparent  contradic 
tion  between  a  common  and  a  retired  life  has  been 
overcome  by  the  organization  of  a  number  of  auton 
omous  groups  known  by  the  name  of  University  Houses. 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO      107 

Here,  as  everywhere  in  America,  comes  out  the  con 
stant  tendency  toward  the  development  of  small  and 
vital,  even  though  complicated,  organisms,  with  a  fine 
indifference  for  the  uniform  and  imposing  effect  ob 
tained  by  the  unproductive  massing  together  of  many 
units. 

In  order  to  throw  more  light  on  the  almost  inextric 
able  whole,  let  us  divide  the  students  into  three  catego 
ries:  those  who  live  in  town,  those  who  live  in  the 
University  dormitories,  and  those  who  live  in  the 
fraternities. 

The  first  of  these  are  not,  as  one  might  suppose,  left 
to  themselves.  In  the  University,  different  clubs  are 
open  to  them  where  they  may  study  in  common  or  in 
privacy,  practise  speaking,  have  music,  amuse  them 
selves,  and  take  their  meals.  Two  a  la  carte  restau 
rants  are  open  to  those  who  prefer  them,  one  for  men  and 
the  other  for  girls,  and  arrangements  have  even  been 
made  for  those  bringing  their  own  food.  Rooms  in 
town  can  be  had  from  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents 
a  week,  and  board  from  four  dollars  and  fifty  cents. 

There  are  nine  dormitories,  four  for  girls  and  five 
for  men.  They  are  almost  like  private  houses,  hav 
ing  a  general  sitting-room  and  separate  bedrooms  whose 
prices  range  from  twenty  dollars  to  seventy-four  dol 
lars  a  term.  The  directors  or,  in  the  girls'  dormitories, 
the  directresses,  are  chosen  by  the  University;  but  the 
students  choose  their  own  quarters.  The  men  go  to 
the  University  restaurant  for  their  meals,  but  the  girls' 


io8     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

dormitories  furnish  board  which  costs  forty- two  dol 
lars  a  term.* 

I  was  invited  to  Beecher  House  by  the  directress, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Wallace,  an  amiable  and  learned  pupil 
in  Romance  philology  of  my  friend  the  Abbe  Rousselot. 
There  were  thirty  girls  there,  and  house  and  hostesses, 
meals  and  conversation,  all  breathed  distinction,  sim 
plicity,  and  an  unstudied  and  carefree  cordiality. 

The  house  atmosphere  is,  however,  more  developed 
in  the  girls'  dormitories  than  in  the  men's.  The  latter 
spend  more  time  at  their  clubs,  or,  if  they  care  for 
more  intimate  relations  with  some  of  their  fellow  stu 
dents,  they  join  one  of  the  fraternities. 

These  Greek  letter  fraternities  form,  undoubtedly, 
one  of  the  most  distinctive  features  of  American  uni 
versity  life.  These  self-governing  societies,  secret  at 
the  outset,  and  many  of  them  remaining  more  or  less  so 
still,  consist  of  a  small  number  of  students  banded  to 
gether  for  the  enjoyment  of  social  life,  and  still  more 
for  the  pursuit  of  an  ideal.  Each  fraternity  bears  the 
name  of  one  or  more  letters  of  the  Greek  alphabet,  and 
never  amalgamates  with  another  society,  though  it  it 
self  is  divided  into  as  many  "chapters"  as  there  are 

*Here  is  a  table  of  the  annual  expenses  of  a  student  living  at  the 
University : 

Modest  Average  High 

Matriculation   fees   and   tuition       .         .         120  120  120 

Lodging 60  105  225 

Board 100  126  225 

Laundry 15  25  35 

Books    and    stationery                                             10  20  50 

305  396  655 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO      109 

colleges  where  it  has  branches.  The  different  chapters 
are  united  by  many  bonds  such  as  regular  assemblies, 
periodical  bulletins,  mutual  assistance,  etc.  The  re 
lations  between  members  are  continued  after  the 
university  course  is  finished,  for  one  is  necessarily  a 
life  member  of  these  fraternities,  which  are  indeed  a 
good  deal  on  the  order  of  an  irreproachable  Free  Ma 
sonry.  The  reason  these  fraternities  do  not  amalgamate 
is  quite  simple  and  always  the  same :  with  more  than  a 
certain  number  of  members  they  would  necessarily  lose 
their  intimate  character;  and  when  it  is  a  question,  as 
here,  of  attaining  a  moral  end,  the  greater  the  number 
in  each  group,  the  less  effectual  their  work.  At  Chi 
cago,  sixteen  fraternities  divide  among  themselves  276 
members.  Although  keeping  strictly  their  own  inde 
pendence,  one  or  more  professors  serve  as  intermediaries 
between  the  fraternities  and  the  faculty.  The  latter  in 
the  interests  of  discipline,  would  ask  no  better  than  that 
the  fraternities  should  establish  themselves  in  houses 
belonging  to  the  University;  but  for  lack  of  room, 
they  are  obliged  to  settle  just  outside  the  campus,  in 
private  cottages,  where  each  member  contributes  his 
share  toward  the  expenses  of  rent,  maintenance,  and 
board.  Sometimes  the  house  is  owned  by  the  chapter 
itself,  and  in  no  case  is  any  one  admitted  into  this  little 
republic  without  the  consent  of  all  its  citizens;  and 
those  who  govern  it  (to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  gov 
erned)  are  chosen  by  their  comrades. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  invited  to  the  Delta 
Upsilon's,  thanks  to  my  young  friend,  Harvey  B.  Ful- 


no     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

ler,  one  of  the  members,  the  very  man  who  had  piloted 
me  from  Jamestown  to  Chautauqua,  and  a  typical 
Chicago  student.  My  visit  took  place  after  my  return 
from  the  Pacific  toward  the  end  of  September,  and  so 
only  a  few  days  after  the  opening  of  the  fall  term. 
The  pretty  house  on  Woodlawn  Avenue  occupied  by 
the  fraternity  was  already  full,  with  twenty  members 
who  had  been  brought  together  by  sympathy  of  char 
acter  and  the  same  longing  for  moral  development, 
without  any  account  being  taken  of  difference  of  for 
tune,  origin,  or  politics.  They  acknowledged  to  me, 
nevertheless,  that  no  Jews,  Japanese,  or  negroes  had 
ever  been  admitted  to  their  ranks ;  but  they  added  that 
they  had  never  gone  into  the  question,  and  were  it  ever 
to  come  up,  there  was  no  written  law  absolutely  bar 
ring  such  from  membership.* 

If  the  house  boasted  of  no  negroes,  it  at  least  had  a 
negress,  a  good  old  colored  mammy,  who  waited  on 
the  table  with  a  maternal  air  and  a  broad  smile  that 
disclosed  her  enormous  white  teeth.  She  was  pictur 
esque  in  the  extreme  with  her  black  skirt,  her  white 
bodice  with  blue  polka  dots,  and  her  red  bandana 
around  her  head.  I  do  not  remember  what  we  had  to 
eat,  but  I  know  every  one  drank  water;  and  at  the  end 
of  the  meal  only,  the  darkey  offered  us  our  choice  be 
tween  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  glass  of  milk.  After 
luncheon  we  went  into  the  sitting  room  and  listened 

*To  be  quite  impartial,  I  must  say  here  that  the  opponents  of 
fraternities  (and  what  institution  has  no  adversaries?)  accuse  them  of 
yielding  sometimes  to  a  spirit  of  exclusiveness  and  showing  them 
selves  lacking  in  true  democracy. 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO      ill 

to  some  amusing  songs,  until  I  asked  for  the  college 
hymn,  when  they  all  rose  and  gravely  chanted : 

"  To-night  we  gladly  sing  the  praise 
Of  her  who  owns  us  as  her  sons  ; 
Our  loyal  voices  let  us  raise 
And  bless  her  with  our  benisons. 
Of  all  fair  mothers,  fairest  she, 
Most  wise  of  all  that  wisest  be, 
Most  true  of  all  the  true,  say  we, 
Is  our  dear  Alma  Mater." 

They  finished  the  third  stanza,  and  I  felt  quite 
moved  by  these  solemn,  almost  religious  accents,  when 
suddenly  they  let  out  an  unearthly,  savage  yell: 
"Chicago!  Chicago!  Chicago-go!"  And  I  saw  Mick, 
the  dog,  who  had  been  very  quiet  during  the  hymn, 
begin  to  frisk  about  and  howl  scarcely  less  humanly 
than  the  others:  "Chicago-go!" 

Delta  Upsilon  is,  with  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon,  the 
most  wide-spread  fraternity  in  the  East,  whereas  in  the 
West  it  is  Beta  Pi  Phi.  Delta  Upsilon  is  about 
equally  strong  in  the  East,  the  West  and  the  South. 
But  I  fear  these  divisions  will  mean  but  little  to  the 
reader,  so  I  will  only  say  that  Delta  Upsilon  has,  in  the 
last  twenty-five  years,  gained  more  new  chapters  than 
any  other  fraternity.  It  has  chapters  in  almost  all  the 
American  colleges,  as  well  as  at  Montreal  and  To 
ronto;  it  has  clubs  and  associations  in  most  of  the  im 
portant  towns;  it  publishes,  under  the  direction  of  its 
executive  council,  a  quarterly  review  of  more  than  a 
hundred  pages,  a  statistical  annual  report,  a  decennial 


112     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

catalogue,  a  collection  of  private  songs,  and  a  report  of 
its  annual  congresses.  At  these  assemblies,  where  vet 
erans  and  new  recruits  gather  together,  are  often  found 
well-known  people,  such  as  Mr.  David  S.  Jordan, 
President  of  Stanford  University,  or  Mr.  Charles  E. 
Hughes,  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York.  These 
eminent  men  are  not  sparing  in  their  exhortations  to 
their  younger  brethren,  who  seem  disposed  to  pay 
great  heed  to  them.  The  Bulletin  of  Delta  Upsilon 
for  September,  1907,  publishes  on  the  first  page  a  few 
energetic  lines  in  which  Mr.  Jordan  declares  that  the 
fraternities  can  accomplish  no  good  unless  they  are 
made  up  of  workers  and  men  of  strong  character ;  it  is 
they,  he  says,  who  must  promote,  at  college,  that  true 
democracy  which  consists  in  esteeming  a  man  according 
to  his  works,  and  leaving  aside  —  be  he  rich  or  poor  — 
the  mediocre  and  the  coward.  The  little  fraternity 
manual  quotes  as  a  motto  these  words  pronounced  by 
Governor  Hughes  at  the  New  York  banquet  the  ninth 
of  March,  1907:  "Happy  the  young  man  whose  fam 
ily  and  college  relations  bind  him  to  a  noble  ideal,  and 
whose  old  friendships  urge  him  to  show  himself  worthy 
of  the  talents  he  has  received.  This  is  a  blessing  that 
has  been  withheld  from  no  member  of  Delta  Upsilon. 
Therefore,  may  nothing  cause  us  to  lose  the  spirit  of 
fraternity,  may  nothing  destroy  in  us  the  bonds  of 
Delta  Upsilon." 

With  so  many  elements  of  personal  life  and  initia 
tive,  the  Chicago  students  cannot  fail  to  have  their  own 
press;  and  indeed,  they  edit  and  publish  a  paper, 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CHICAGO      113 

Daily  Maroon,  whose  four  bright  and  sprightly  pages 
give  an  agreeable  medley  of  scholastic  information, 
humorous  articles,  advertisements,  accounts  of  the 
courses,  sporting  news,  plans  for  holiday  trips,  and 
serious  descriptions  of  settlement  or  other  social  work. 
Is  it  necessary  to  state  that  in  all  the  numbers  which 
I  consulted  there  was  never  an  idea,  never  a  suggestion, 
which  might  offend  the  strictest  morality?  My  Chi 
cago  friends  will  even  be  surprised  (to  their  honor  be  it 
said)  to  have  any  one  remark  on  such  a  natural  fact. 
During  the  summer  term  *fke  Daily  Maroon  gives 
place  to  the  University  of  Chicago  Weekly,  which  cor 
responds  to  the  other  paper  and  is  also  edited  by  the 
students. 

Both  daily  paper  and  weekly  review  are  published 
by  the  University  Press.  This  Press  is  an  important 
undertaking  and  turns  out  no  less  than  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  work  yearly,  and  its  total 
expenses  far  surpass  this  sum.  But  with  the  enormous 
number  of  reports,  catalogues,  bulletins,  and  pro 
grammes  of  various  kinds,  the  University  finds  it 
greatly  to  its  advantage  to  do  its  own  printing.  Noth 
ing  is  lacking  in  the  way  of  type,  of  Greek,  Syriac, 
Arabic,  Hebrew,  and  Ethiopian  alphabets,  and  the  spe 
cial  signs  of  mathematics  and  astronomy. 

At  the  end  of  June,  1906,  the  University  had  pub 
lished,  apart  from  thirteen  learned  periodicals,  three 
hundred  and  seventy-five  volumes  written  by  its  pro 
fessors,  which,  combined  with  what  we  have  been  de 
scribing,  and  considering  that  the  institution  is  but 


H4     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

fifteen  years  old,  gives  good  proof  that  it  is  not  suffer 
ing  from  torpor. 

Money  can  no  more  buy  knowledge  than  it  can  buy 
happiness;  but  if  it  is  true,  as  is  generally  conceded, 
that  it  can  greatly  contribute  to  happiness,  how  much 
more  can  it  contribute  to  knowledge  when,  as  here,  it  is 
generously,  loyally,  and  without  stint  or  conditions, 
applied  toward  the  advancement  of  learning! 


CHAPTER  VI 
VISITS  TO  PEORIA  AND  OMAHA 

PEORIA     FOR     FOUR     YEARS THE     ILLNESS     OF     MGR. 

SPALDING HIS    PHILOSOPHY  OF    PAIN  COUNTRY 

CLUB ALL     MY     PLANS    UPSET    BY     MR.     PETRY 

TWENTY-FIVE    HUNDRED    MILES    MORE VAIN    PRO 
TESTS  OF  MY  "SEMINARIST"  —  OMAHA,  ONE  OF  THE 

"  MEAT   CITIES  "  COMMERCE   AND   PROSPERITY 

$8,OOO,OOO,OOO    CROPS CREIGHTON      UNIVERSITY 

A    STAINED-GLASS    SAINT   IN    A    ROCKING    CHAIR 

SPRINGING    UP    OF    CATHEDRALS. 

"DEORIA  and  Mgr.  Spalding,  "a  little  city  and  a 
•*•  great  bishop,"  as  I  called  them  formerly,  for  which 
neither  of  them  bore  me  any  grudge,  had  left  me  with 
such  pleasant  souvenirs  that  I  could  not  entertain  the 
idea  of  not  seeing  them  both  again.  Besides,  my  visit 
could  easily  be  worked  in  with  Chicago  as  my  base,  a 
mere  matter  of  three  hundred  miles  going  and  return 
ing.  How  was  it  that,  four  years  ago,  I  was  so  de 
pressed  at  leaving  this  Illinois  shore,  and  thought  it  so 
much  too  far  from  the  banks  of  the  Seine?  It  was 
easy  formerly  to  count  such  distance  an  obstacle. 

Peoria  has  continued  to  develop  normally,  increasing 
yearly  by  about  a  thirtieth  the  statistics  of  her  popula- 


n6      AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

tion,  business,  schools,  and  all  exterior  signs  of  life,  and 
justifying  more  and  more  the  good  opinion  of  her 
friends.  These  love  her  so  as  she  is,  that  they  rather 
fear  to  see  her  grow  too  great,  and  they  foresee  with 
dread  the  time  in  the  near  future  when  gigantic  canals 
will  transform  her  into  a  way-station  between  Lake 
Michigan  and  Peru,  Lake  Huron  and  China,  when  one 
will  go  from  Chicago  to  Yokohama  and  Shanghai  via 
Illinois,  the  Mississippi,  Panama,  and  the  Pacific. 
Peoria  a  sea-port!  What,  La  Salle  and  Marquette, 
would  you  have  said  of  that  when  you  were  so  cau 
tiously  sheltering  your  canoes  among  the  rushes'? 

The  little  that  remained  to  me  to  discover  of  the 
town,  is  obligingly  pointed  out  to  me  by  the  news 
papers  which  are  always  lying  in  wait  for  the  foreign 
visitor ;  one  of  them  says  chaffingly : 

"  Just  what  the  Abbe  Klein  will  discover  about  Peoria  dur 
ing  his  present  stay  is  problematical.  He  was  here  four  years 
and  wrote  a  very  pleasant  little  description  of  the  city  in  his 
book,  '  In  the  Land  of  the  Strenuous  Life.'*  He  will  undoubt 
edly  notice  that  life  here  is  more  strenuous  than  ever,  owing  to 
the  increased  number  and  speed  of  automobiles,  the  scarcity  of 
hired  girls,  and  the  ever  rising  pile  of  magazines  which  must 
be  read  each  month.  Regarding  Peoria  the  abbe  will  doubt 
less  notice  the  newly  risen  flock  of  whiskey  warehouses,  indicat 
ing  that  the  nation  is  thirstier  than  ever.  He  will  notice  that 
the  owners  of  downtown  real  estate  are  still  alive  and  holding 
on  to  their  dilapidated  shacks  with  all  their  pristine  vigor.  The 
parks  and  boulevards  are  finer,  the  churches  are  holding  their 
own,  the  asphalt  pavements  are  a  little  more  furrowed  and  de- 

*Cf.  "  In  the  Land  of  the  Strenuous  Life,"  Chap.  VIII,  "  A  Little 
Town  and  a  Great  Bishop." 


PEORIA  AND   OMAHA  117 

jected,  Bob  Clarke  weighs  possibly  five  pounds  more,  and  the 
Peoria  Public  Library  has  passed  the  one-hundred-thousand 
mark,  the  one-hundred-thousandth  volume  being  Abbe  Klein's 
splendid  book."* 

Vanity  and  laziness  combined  impel  me  to  conclude 
the  account  of  my  observations  on  the  town  with  the 
above  quotation ! 

What,  as  will  readily  be  believed,  was  far  more 
agreeable  than  renewing  my  investigations  of  the  town 
institutions,  was  running  in  a  motor  car  all  around  the 
environs  and  revisiting  the  ever-growing  parks  which 
lie  nearly  hidden  in  the  midst  of  semi-virgin  forests; 
studying  (or  rather  noting)  the  fertile  country  divided 
into  fields  of  corn  and  wheat;  gliding  along  the  dusty 
roads  beside  the  river,  and  passing  by  farmhouses, 
frightening,  just  as  in  France,  peaceful  flocks  of  chick 
ens,  which  proves  the  falsity,  caricaturists  to  the  con 
trary,  of  the  statement  that  the  farmers  use  automobile 
horns  to  call  their  barnyard  fowl  at  feeding  time,  and 
so  have  trained  them  to  throw  themselves  under  the 
wheels  of  passing  cars,  to  the  detriment  of  the  owners* 
purses. 

Motoring  is  the  sport  of  the  afternoon ;  the  mornings 
are  given  to  driving  the  Bishop  in  his  carriage.  Smit 
ten  three  years  ago  with  hemiplegia,  he  is  no  longer  able 
to  ride  on  horseback  or  to  drive,  and  it  is  his  devoted 
sister  who  takes  him  out  driving  each  day.  At  first  I 

*These  lines  from  The  Peoria  Herald  Transcript  (July  30,  1907), 
were  written  by  Mr.  Geo.  Fitch,  the  talented  humorist,  well  known 
for  his  articles  in  The  Ladles'  Home  Journal,  "Seeing  New  York  by 
Automobile,"  and  "  Seeing  Boston  by  Automobile." 


ii8     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

feel  unworthy  to  replace  her,  but  thanks  to  the  great 
good  sense  of  Kitty,  the  old  hired  mare,  my  fears  soon 
evaporate,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  hour  even  my 
feeling  of  responsibility  does  not  prevent  my  talking 
quietly  with  my  very  good  friend. 

But  it  is  especially  in  the  evening,  in  the  covered 
gallery  that  since  his  illness  he  has  added  to  the  little 
presbytery,  that  I  enjoy  talking  with  him  of  the  great  in 
terests  of  the  Church  and  of  questions  of  eternity.  I  will 
not  repeat  his  philosophy,  a  resume  of  which  is  given 
elsewhere,  nor  the  broad,  simple,  and  confiding  views  he 
has  formed  of  the  designs  of  God  and  the  future  of  the 
world;  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  how  greatly 
suffering  has  added  to  the  perfection  of  this  great 
nature.  Three  years  for  such  a  Bishop  without  saying 
Mass  or  preaching  the  Word  of  God !  Three  years  for 
such  a  thinker  being  hardly  able  to  write  or  study ! 

In  this  tired  body,  the  spirit,  thanks  be  to  God,  has 
not  remained  captive,  it  has  risen  higher  and  higher  in 
the  regions  of  light  and  love ;  with  no  loss  of  strength, 
it  has  grown  in  gentleness;  having  ruled  formerly  by 
brilliancy  and  vigor,  it  now  dominates  by  sweetness 
and  tenderness.  The  Bishop  extols  the  beauties  of  suf 
fering,  as  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  sang  the  virtues  of  his 
lady  Poverty: 

"  One  should  love  pain,"  said  he,  "  as  well  as  the  other 
gifts  of  God,  and  as  the  best  one.  It  is  the  greatest 
of  teachers.  We  really  learn  only  by  experience.  Joy 
is  an  experience  too,  but  only  a  superficial  one;  it  is 
suffering  that  reaches  to  the  depths  of  one's  nature." 


PEORIA   AND   OMAHA  119 

"Yes,  Father,"  I  replied,  "but  tell  me  what,  in 
especial,  it  has  taught  you,  and  what  benefits  you  have 
derived  from  it." 

"  It  seems  to  me  this  is  its  lesson,"  he  replied.  "  The 
present  world  is  great  and  beautiful  to  those  who  un 
derstand  it  rightly ;  but  pain  and  suffering,  by  prevent 
ing  us  from  delighting  in  it  unreservedly,  make  us 
aspire  after  something  better;  and  higher  aspirations 
are  the  mainspring  of  life,  development,  and  advance 
ment." 

"This  something  better,  shall  we  attain  to  it?" 
"We  are  going  to  God!  What  more  can  I  say?" 
I  felt  as  though  I  were  on  a  high  mountain-peak 
beside  a  guide  explaining  the  immense  horizons,  lead 
ing  me  to  guess  at  glimpses  beyond  the  boundary  of 
vision  into  the  Promised  Land.  Nor  has  Providence 
too  severely  treated  one  who  has  all  his  life  confided  in 
God.  He  is  surrounded  by  affection  and  devotion. 
Not  to  speak  of  those  at  a  distance,  who  live  in  his 
thoughts  and  pray  with  him,  he  has  near  him  at  Peoria, 
one  of  his  sisters  and  his  doctor  brother,  who  see  him 
each  day;  his  faithful  Auxiliary-Bishop,  and  all  his 
clergy,  who  are  so  proud  of  him;  and  notably,  in  his 
house,  this  little  house  that  sheds  so  pure  a  light  on  the 
world,  the  four  priests  who  form  the  staff  of  the  ca 
thedral  and  the  diocesan  administration,  and  at  their 
head  the  pastor  and  chancellor,  a  modest,  active,  and 
intelligent  collaborator.  Nor  would  I  forget  the  young 
and  devoted  Canadian  who  is  reader  and  secretary,  nor 
Bridget,  that  model  servant  who  has  done  thirty  years 


120     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

of  perfect  work,  Bridget  forever  smiling  and,  what  is 
still  rarer  in  such  a  case,  always  retiring  and  shy. 
Happy  man,  who  can  make  himself  so  admired  of  the 
great  and  so  loved  by  the  humble ! 

Admired  and  loved,  I  could  see,  by  all  the  inhab 
itants  of  Peoria,  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics.  The 
last  evening  of  my  stay  I  was  invited  to  dine  at  the 
Country  Club,  which  towers  sheer  above  the  Illinois 
at  that  most  picturesque  spot  where  the  river,  before 
entering  the  city,  spreads  out  into  a  lake  dotted  with 
islands  and  shut  in  by  wooded  hills.  Each  of  the  two 
hundred  members  of  the  club  enjoys,  in  this  spacious 
and  charming  country  house,  all  the  privileges  of  own 
ership  of  this  magnificent  property,  with  neither  too 
great  an  expenditure,  nor  much  distance  to  travel. 
Here  he  can  indulge  in  his  favorite  sports  and  pastimes, 
spend  a  few  restful  days,  and  entertain  his  friends. 
It  is  the  country  place  within  the  means  of  every  one, 
the  country  place  minus  its  cares,  its  preoccupations, 
disillusions,  and  expenses.  Judging  by  the  family 
whose  guests  we  are,  and  by  the  friends  they  invite  to 
meet  us,  Peoria  is  not  inferior  in  graciousness,  culture, 
nor  even  elegance,  to  cities  twenty  times  older  than 
itself;  and  the  squaws  of  Illinois  have  progressed  some 
what  since  La  Salle  and  his  companions  saw  them 
threateningly  brandish  their  tomahawks!  I  can  even 
discuss  the  cours  of  the  Sorbonne  with  my  neighbor, 
who  has  conscientiously  followed  them.  Professor  at 
Smith  College,  Massachusetts,  she  undertakes  to  get 
together  an  audience  of  six  hundred  girls  if  I  will  give 


PEORIA  AND  OMAHA  121 

a  lecture  there  in  French,  and  I  accept  the  invitation. 
I  derive  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  in  seeing  the  members 
of  this  delightful  social  circle  surrounding  the  Bishop 
with  the  same  affectionate  respect  as  was  offered  him  b} 
the  nuns  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  their  wards,  by 
the  sick  of  the  hospitals,  and  by  the  school  children. 
The  priest,  and  above  all  the  bishop,  should  be  all 
things  to  all  men;  with  the  poor  fishers  of  Galilee  or 
in  the  house  of  Bethany,  Jesus  was  always  the  Christ.* 

Now  I  must  return  to  Chicago  for  two  days  to  say 
good-bye  to  my  friends  and  make  my  plans  and  final 
arrangements.  Now  the  real  trip  is  to  begin.  So  far, 
along  the  Atlantic  coast  and  the  shores  of  Lake  Mich 
igan,  nothing  was  new  to  me;  but  now  I  am  to  pene 
trate  beyond  the  bounds  where  I  stopped  four  years  ago 
and 'take  the  road  for  the  West  and  the  Pacific.  But 
by  what  route?  Alas,  I  had  planned  a  charming  and 
restful  tour,  to  include  St.  Paul,  Omaha,  Denver,  Col 
orado,  Arizona,  and  California,  returning  via  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  and  New  Orleans  to  New  York,  in  short, 

*Mgr.  Spalding  handed  in  his  resignation  as  Bishop  of  Peoria 
in  1908.  At  the  touchingly  insistent  requests  of  his  clergy,  who  had 
even  petitioned  Rome  unanimously  that  he  be  continued  in  his  charge, 
with  an  Administrator  to  assist  him,  he  continues  to  reside  in  his 
episcopal  city. 

"  The  announcement  of  this  resignation,"  says  The  Catholic  Times, 
the  great  Catholic  newspaper  of  England,  "  is  received  with  lively 
regret  by  the  Protestants  as  well  as  by  the  Catholics  of  the  United 
States.  Dr.  Spalding  is  one  of  those  who  have  earned  for  the  Catholic 
Church  in  America  the  high  esteem  in  which  it  is  held  by  all  classes 
of  citizens,  not  excepting  the  President.  .  .  .  He  has  the  gift  of 
oratory,  and  few  of  his  compatriots  have  done  as  much  as  he  to  raise 
the  American  working-classes  to  a  recognition  of  their  duty." 


122     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

something  to  correspond  with  a  tour  to  the  chateaux 
of  the  Loire!  But  my  plans  are  all  upset!  On  my 
return  from  Peoria,  I  met,  at  the  Paulists',  Mr.  Am 
brose  Petry,  the  business  man  of  whom  I  have  already 
spoken  as  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  Catholic  Exten 
sion,  and  the  giver  of  the  chapel  car,  the  Pullman  with 
all  the  necessary  arrangements  for  an  itinerant  church. 
Mr.  Petry  is  kind  enough  to  interest  himself  in  my 
study  of  America,  but  it  seems  to  him  impossible  to  in 
quire  into  the  future  of  the  United  States  without  vis 
iting  the  Northwest.  "Do  you  know  Seattle4?" 

"No." 

"  Then  you  don't  know  America." 

Seattle?  I  heard  that  name  for  the  first  time  the 
year  before  at  Chambery,  at  the  Chateau  de  Mont- 
Rond,  pronounced  by  Baron  de  Mandat-Grancey,  one 
of  the  most  travelled  and  most  observant  men  of  the 
present  day. 

"  Seattle  is  the  city  of  to-day,  or  rather  of  to-mor 
row,"  said  Mr.  Petry.  "  It  is  activity  personified,  the 
paragon  of  progress;  it  is  the  gate  to  the  Far  East,  it  is 
the  future  of  the  Pacific.  To  treat  of  the  United 
States  without  speaking  of  Seattle  would  be  a  good  deal 
like  playing  '  Hamlet '  without  the  Ghost." 

He  is  so  persuasive  that  I  give  in  and  promise  to 
see  Seattle.  I  shall  work  it  out  by  beginning  with 
Omaha  and  running  up  to  St.  Paul,  an  insignificant  ad 
dition  to  the  mileage.  From  St.  Paul  I  shall  have  my 
choice  of  passing  through  Canada  or  via  the  Dakotas, 
Montana,  and  Idaho  to  Washington.  From  Seattle 


PEORIA  AND   OMAHA  123 

it  is  only  a  two  days'  railway  trip,  through  Oregon,  or 
four  days  by  sea,  to  San  Francisco.  Once  in  my  room 
and  sobered  from  the  enthusiasm  Mr.  Petry  had  com 
municated  to  me,  I  work  out  how  many  miles  have 
just  been  added  to  my  itinerary,  and  it  comes  to 
about  twenty-five  hundred.  At  this  number  my  semi 
narist  naturally  shies.  "  Who  knows,"  he  objects, 
"whether  Seattle  is  not  merely  bluff  after  all4?  And 
any  way,  can't  one  learn  all  about  the  Northwest,  and 
even  talk  about  it  very  properly,  without  having 
crossed  it?  Jules  Verne  did  not  think  it  necessary  to 
travel  from  the  earth  to  the  moon  in  order  to  write  a 
most  convincing  account  of  the  journey! "  I  take  ex 
ception  to  the  analogy,  and  peremptorily  invite  my 
timid  self  to  keep  quiet,  to  attend  to  my  correspondence 
first,  and  to  the  packing  of  my  valise  afterwards.  The 
terrible  man  from  Detroit  has  decided  my  fate.  Do 
you,  O  indolent  readers,  realize  what  is  done  for  you 
when  the  task  is  conscientiously  carried  out?  Com 
pared  with  our  nights  and  days  and  weeks  of  railroad 
ing  what,  in  truth,  do  you  think  of  the  trouble  you  are 
put  to,  to  read  in  a  half  doze  some  twenty-five  pages 
an  hour? 

Omaha,  Nebraska,  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri,  lies 
about  in  the  middle  of  this  broad  continent.  Two 
years  earlier,  the  Bishop  of  this  city,  on  his  way  through 
Paris,  had  brought  me  a  message  from  Archbishop  Ire 
land,  and  we  had  spent  a  day  together.  When  the 
time  came  for  parting  I  promised  to  return  his  visit, 


124     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

which  amused  him  very  much;  and  now  the  time  had 
come  to  show  him  that  Frenchmen  keep  their  word. 

Furthermore,  Omaha  deserves  notice  on  its  own  ac 
count.  Mr.  de  Rousiers,  in  his  "Vie  Americaine," 
speaks  of  it  as  the  most  important  "meat  city"  after 
Chicago  and  Kansas  City;  as  one  of  those  outlets  to 
which  the  railroads  bring  cattle,  hogs,  and  sheep  by 
thousands  daily  from  the  great  grazing  grounds  of  the 
West.  To  the  immense  corn-fields  and  prairies  there 
must  always  be  a  corresponding  number  of  stock  yards, 
to  receive  the  cattle  brought  by  the  trains,  and  pack 
ing  houses  where  they  are  killed,  cut  up,  cooked, 
packed,  and  finally  shipped  to  all  parts  of  America,  if 
not  of  the  world.  Omaha  ranks  third  in  this  industry : 
in  1879  it  received  243,180  head  of  cattle;  in  1906  it 
handled  6,101,318.  And  the  packing  industry  is  far 
from  being  Omaha's  only  resource.  In  the  total  of  its 
commerce,  which  in  1906  exceeded  four  hundred  mil 
lions,  and  which  is  furthered  by  the  great  railroads, 
especially  the  Union  Pacific,  which  has  given  such  an 
impetus  to  this  part  of  the  United  States,  account  must 
be  taken  of  its  handling  of  corn  and  wheat,  the  railroad 
shops,  the  exchange  of  commodities  with  the  West  and 
Northwest,  and  the  establishments  for  smelting  and  re 
fining  the  ores  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  and  zinc, 
brought  here,  as  to  Denver,  from  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains.  This  latter  is  a  formidable  work  requiring  great 
skill,  the  sight  of  which  left  me  with  most  pleasing  im 
pressions,  shown  me  as  it  was  by  the  kind  proprietors  of 
the  principal  establishment.  It  is  true  that  the  auto- 


PEORIA  AND   OMAHA  125 

mobile  which  had  brought  us  to  the  blast-furnace  bore 
us  off  at  top  speed  after  an  hour's  visit,  to  see  the 
Country  Club. 

Omaha  this  year  —  1907  —  will  have  beaten  all  its 
records  in  spite  of  the  panic  of  the  last  three  months. 
Statistics  estimate  in  round  numbers,  new  buildings  at 
$4,500,000;  manufactured  products  at  $218,704,000; 
and  the  corn  crop,  for  the  whole  of  Nebraska  it  is 
true,  is  estimated  at  $72,985,140.  Omaha  has  made 
$3,800,000  worth  of  butter,  which  heads  the  list  for 
the  world  (it  ranks  third  as  a  corn  market,  fourth  as 
an  oat  market,  and  sixth  as  a  wheat  market).  Prop 
erties  to  the  number  of  7,165  and  to  the  value  of  over 
eleven  million  dollars  have  been  sold.  The  post-office 
has  handled  forty-eight  million  pieces  of  mail, 
paid  or  issued  more  than  eight  million  dollars  in  postal 
orders,  and  sold  stamps  amounting  to  nearly  eight  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars.  Out  of  615  alarms,  there  have 
been  but  ten  fires,  with  an  aggregate  loss  of  five  thou 
sand  dollars !  Let  us  forget  this  ignominious  number, 
and  close  our  statistics  as  the  newspapers  do  on  the 
first  of  January,  by  giving  the  birth  rate :  2,334,  or  an 
increase  of  296  over  the  year  1906,  and,  which  is  of 
greater  importance,  an  excess  over  deaths  by  about  one 
thousand.  Omaha,  which  is  half  a  century  old,  num 
bers  to-day  150,000  inhabitants;  but  this,  I  must  say, 
without  wishing  to  wound  its  legitimate  pride,  is  about 
the  normal  growth  for  the  large  towns  of  the  United 
States,  although  in  the  Old  World  it  would  be  looked 
upon  as  prodigious. 


126     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

But  since  we  are  in  the  capital  of  an  eminently  agri 
cultural  State,  I  will  give  the  reader,  once  for  all,  an 
idea  of  what  the  land  produces  in  the  United  States. 
Here  is  a  summary  of  values,  according  to  the  annual 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  of  the  crops  of 
1907,  which  are  $79,000,000  in  excess  of  those  of 
1906: 

Size  Value 

Corn  .  .  .  2,553,732,000  bushels  $1,350,000,000 
Wheat  .  .  .  625, 5 76,000  bushels  500,000,000 
Oats  .  .  .  741,521,000  bushels  360,000,000 
Potatoes  .  .  .  292, 427,000  bushels  190,000,000 
Barley  .  .  .  147,192,000  bushels  115,000,000 

Flaxseed  .         .         .  25,420,000  bushels  26,000,000 

Rye          .         .         .  3 1, 566,000  bushels  23,000,000 

Rice          .         .         .  2 1, 4 1 2,000  bushels  19,500,000 

Buckwheat        .         .  13,911,000  bushels  10,000,000 

Hay          .         .         .  6 1, 420,000  tons  660,000,000 

Tobacco   .         .         .          645, 2 1 3,000  pounds  67,000,000 

Hops         .         .         .  48,330,000  pounds  2,000,000 

Dairy  farm  products  are  estimated  at  $  800,000,000 ; 
cotton  at  $650,000,000;  poultry  and  eggs  at  $600,- 
000,000;  animals  slaughtered  at  $1,270,000,000. 

The  grand  total  of  farm  products  amounts  to 
$7,412,000,000  of  which  only  one-seventh,  or  $1,055,- 
000,000  worth,  is  exported ;  but  when  one  realizes  that 
this  last  comparatively  small  amount  is  greater  than 
the  heavy  indemnity  levied  on  France  after  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War,  one  is  enabled  to  understand  how  the 
United  States  was  powerful  enough  to  get  the  better 
so  quickly  of  the  panic  in  industrial  and  financial  cir- 


PEORIA  AND   OMAHA  127 

cles  with  which  it  was  seized,  as  it  is  almost  every 
ten  years,  at  the  end  of  1907.  The  results  of  1908 
were  still  more  brilliant  than  those  I  have  quoted,  and 
American  agriculture  reached  the  record  sum  of 

$7,778,000,000. 

Omaha  is  not,  however,  entirely  preoccupied  with 
its  material  riches,  estimated  at  about  four  hundred 
million  dollars.  Like  most  other  cities  of  the  United 
States,  it  devotes  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  education. 
It  furnishes  eleven  colleges  and  sixty-seven  schools, 
public  or  private,  for  the  use  of  some  thirty  thousand 
scholars.  As  I  was  at  Omaha  in  the  midst  of  the  holi 
days,  at  the  beginning  of  August,  I  could  not  see  the 
schools  in  working  order,  but  favorable  circumstances 
permitted  me  to  gain  some  knowledge  of  the  most  im 
portant  institution  of  the  city,  Creighton  University, 
which  is,  like  those  of  St.  Louis  and  Georgetown  near 
Washington,  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  It  was  in 
the  great  hall  of  Creighton  University  that  I  gave  a 
lecture  gotten  up  by  the  Knights  of  Columbus  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Bishop.  The  consequent  inter 
course  with  Father  Dowling,  rector  of  the  University, 
and  a  talented  publicist  and  educator,  would  have 
opened  the  way,  had  I  had  more  time,  to  a  thorough 
study  of  the  institution.  I  was  able,  at  least,  to  visit 
the  installation  of  the  various  schools,  and  to  conclude 
that  the  Catholic  Faculties  of  France  might,  from  this 
point  of  view,  envy  those  of  Nebraska.  Science  and 
letters,  especially,  occupy  a  regular  palace  surrounded 


128     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

by  gardens  at  the  outskirts  of  the  town;  the  law  and 
medical  schools  (the  latter  completed  by  a  large  hos 
pital),  and  the  schools  of  pharmacy  and  dental  sur 
gery,  occupy  separate  buildings  in  the  business  centre, 
and  are  equipped,  as  to  libraries  and  laboratories,  with 
the  most  perfect  outfits. 

One  of  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  Creighton 
University,  remarkable  in  many  other  ways  as  well, 
and  especially  for  its  maintenance  of  the  standard  of 
classical  education,  is  the  fact  that  so  much  of  its 
tuition  is  free:  students  in  the  departments  of  letters 
and  science  pay  no  fees.  As  will  be  surmised,  it  would 
not  be  possible  to  do  this,  nor  even  to  found  so  vast  a 
Catholic  institution  in  this  part  of  the  country,  with 
out  exceptional  generosity  from  some  one.  The  real 
founders  and  sponsors  of  the  University  are  Edward 
and  John  Creighton.  Even  in  generous  America,  I 
know  of  no  other  Catholics  who  have  done  as  much  for 
education  as  these  two  brothers.  I  do  not  know  the 
exact  amount  they  have  given,  but  it  is  evident  that  the 
founding  and  building  of  Creighton  with  all  that  it 
entails,  has  cost  a  respectable  number  of  millions.  Ed 
ward  and  John,  sons  of  poor  Irish  parents,  are  among 
the  number  of  self-made  Americans  who  have  enriched 
the  country  at  the  same  time  as  themselves;  they  count 
among  the  eminent  pioneers  of  the  West.  Ranching, 
trading,  banking,  building  the  first  telegraph  lines 
across  the  uninhabited  plains  lying  between  the  East 
and  California,  in  these  ways  they  accumulated  the 
fortune  which  they  afterwards  devoted  in  so  large  a 


PEORIA  AND   OMAHA  129 

part  to  the  education  of  their  fellow  citizens.  Edward, 
the  elder  and  perhaps  the  greater,  at  any  rate  the  more 
simple,  lived  from  1820  to  1874;  tne  second,  John, 
lived  until  February,  1907.  Though  he  had  received 
his  titles  of  Colonel,  Knight  of  St.  Gregory,  and  Ro 
man  Count,  without  having  gone  on  any  military  serv 
ice  or  crusade,  he  showed  himself  none  the  less  well 
versed  in  the  wholesale  grocery  business,  and  was 
one  of  those  who  started  the  first  slaughterhouses 
of  Omaha. 

The  palace  of  the  Bishop  of  Omaha  is  less  imposing 
than  Creighton  University,  as  in  many  dioceses  the 
bishop  lives  in  the  residential  quarter,  while  the  offices 
are  in  the  business  centre.  These  occupy  only  three  or 
four  rooms  in  a  big  office  building,  and  even  these  are 
shared  with  that  excellent  weekly  journal,  tfhe  tfrue 
Voice.  The  Vicar  General,  Mgr.  Colaneri,  who  lives 
with  the  Bishop,  spends  his  days  at  the  office.  Having 
emigrated  from  Italy  in  his  youth,  he  combines  his 
native  country's  aptitude  for  ecclesiastical  government 
with  the  activity,  uprightness,  and  plain-dealing  char 
acteristic  of  American  methods.  The  diocese  is  an 
important  one;  founded  in  1885,  it  counts  to-day  180 
churches,  of  which  104  are  parochial,  and  115  secular 
and  13  regular  priests.  The  Catholic  population,  ac 
cording  to  the  census  of  1900,  amounted  to  65,175  and 
by  now  it  must  have  reached  the  80,000  mark.  An  in 
teresting  fact,  and  one  which,  thanks  be  to  God,  occurs 
in  almost  all  dioceses  to  the  great  honor  and  advantage 
of  the  Catholics,  is  the  considerable  surplus  of  births 


130     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

over  deaths.  The  figures  for  1907  are  3,006  baptisms 
to  1,517  funerals. 

The  episcopal  residence  is  a  small  and  neat  frame 
villa  in  no  way  distinguished  from  its  neighbors,  sit 
uated  on  a  road  from  which  only  a  few  feet  of  ground 
separate  it;  naturally,  there  is  no  enclosing  wall,  but 
only  a  pleasant  lawn  and  a  few  trees.  Simple,  good, 
hardworking,  and  serious,  Mgr.  Scannell,  with  his 
ascetic  face  and  his  love  of  solitude,  would  recall  our 
austere  Bishops,  Mgr.  Dupont  des  Loges,  Cardinal  Per- 
raud,  or  Cardinal  Richard,  if  we  could  picture  these 
venerable  prelates  in  the  American  attitude,  not  hesitat 
ing  to  install  themselves  after  lunch  at  their  front  door 
with  a  cigar  in  view  of  all  the  passers-by  —  in  short,  a 
stained  glass  saint  in  a  rocking-chair.  And  every  one 
finds  all  this  quite  natural, —  and  why,  indeed,  should 
they  not?  —  even  the  squirrels,  who  come  down  from 
the  trees  to  nibble  at  bread  and  nuts  from  the  hand  of 
the  prelate.  Is  it  that  men  and  beasts  become  less 
savage  in  America  than  in  the  Old  World? 

How  I  appreciate,  after  the  busy  weeks  of  Chicago, 
these  few  days  of  restful  hospitality!  I  do  not  suc 
cumb,  however,  to  this  dolce  far  niente,  for  the  obliging 
Bishop  kindly  shows  me,  besides  the  University  and  the 
diocesan  offices,  the  Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 
where  I  find  nuns  of  great  intelligence;  the  Society  of 
the  Good  Shepherd,  which,  here  as  everywhere  else, 
is  the  admiration  of  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics; 
and  many  other  charities;  and  finally  the  site  where, 
in  a  few  weeks,  the  corner  stone  of  the  new  Cathedral 


PEORIA  AND   OMAHA  131 

of  Saint  Cecilia  will  be  laid.  With  its  broad  and  har 
monious  proportions  and  its  double  towers  nearly  two 
hundred  feet  high,  it  will  probably  be  the  finest  monu 
ment  of  the  town. 

"New  cathedrals"  is  the  most  frequent  subject  of 
conversation  between  American  Catholics,  and  it  seems 
as  if  every  State  in  the  Union  had  at  least  one  that  has 
just  been  consecrated,  that  is  being  built,  or  for  which 
it  is  taking  subscriptions.  Speaking  from  memory 
only,  those  of  Richmond,  Va. ;  Newark,  N.  J. ;  Coving- 
ton,  Ky. ;  Dallas,  Texas ;  and  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  date  from 
the  last  few  years  only.  That  of  Seattle  has  just  been 
completed,  and  those  of  St.  Louis,  Salt  Lake  City, 
Boise  in  Idaho,  and  Helena  in  Montana,  are  in  process 
of  construction;  while  the  corner  stones  have  just  been 
laid  for  those  of  Omaha  and  St.  Paul.  Whereas  in 
other  countries  Catholics  are  powerless  to  keep  up  the 
Cathedrals  built  by  their  forefathers  centuries  ago,  are 
even  unable  to  keep  possession  of  them,  our  American 
brothers  are  everywhere  raising  new  ones,  and  those 
already  built  are  enlarged  by  the  warm  rays  of  energy 
and  liberty  like  flowers  in  April  and  May  growing  in 
a  generous  soil. 


CHAPTER  VII 
ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND 

A  CELEBRATED  MAN  WHO  DOES  NOT  SUFFER  BY  BEING 

SEEN  AT  CLOSE  RANGE SIMPLICITY  AND  ACTIVITY 

A  PROSPEROUS  CHURCH  FRENCH  MISSIONARIES 

TO    MINNESOTA   IN    THE   SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

ORIGIN   OF   THE  TOWN  AND  DIOCESE  OF   ST.    PAUL 

THE  JUBILEE  OF  IQOl  :  FIFTY  YEARS  OF  CATHOLI 
CISM  IN  THE  NORTHWEST LAYING  THE  CORNER 
STONE  OF  THE  CATHEDRAL  (iQOy)  .'  RELIGIOUS  AND 

CIVIC         FETES MODEL        SEPARATION FREEDOM 

AND  RELIGION  NATURAL  ALLIES VISIT  TO  A  SUR 
VIVOR  OF  HEROIC  TIMES THE  REAL  SELF-MADE 

MAN. 

A  RCHBISHOP  IRELAND,  when  I  arrived  at  his 

**•  "palace"  on  leaving  Omaha,  had  just  laid  the 
corner  stone  of  a  cathedral  at  St.  Paul,  and  he  had  al 
ready  begun  to  collect  funds  to  build  another,  or  rather 
a  procathedral,  at  Minneapolis. 

Whatever  may  be  the  interest  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul, 
its  universal  reputation  is  due  to  its  Archbishop ;  and  it 
was  especially  the  desire  to  see  him  at  home  in  the  midst 
of  his  work  and  surrounded  by  his  fellow  citizens,  that 
led  me  to  accept  so  heartily  his  invitation  to  visit  him. 
I  am  not  satisfied  with  having  met  him  many  times  in 

132 


ARCHBISHOP   IRELAND          133 

Europe,  four  years  ago  at  Washington,  and  quite  re 
cently  at  Chicago.  I  desire  —  I  dare  acknowledge  it, 
now  that  the  test  has  been  more  than  favorable, —  I  de 
sire  to  prove  that  he  is  as  great  at  close  range  as  at  a  dis 
tance,  as  devoted  to  his  own  diocese  as  to  the  general 
welfare  of  Catholicism.  So  many  celebrated  men  have, 
if  I  may  say  so,  only  a  public  value,  and  their  fascina 
tion,  like  that  of  clouds,  fades  rapidly  into  a  sort  of 
gray  fog  when  one  approaches! 

Mgr.  Ireland  is  above  all  an  archbishop,  austere  and 
laborious,  developing  magnificently  the  religious  life 
all  around  him.  As  he  requested  me  not  to  speak  of 
him  personally,  but  only  of  the  history  of  his  diocese,  I 
may  not  describe  his  house  and  modest  household,  his 
extremely  simple  habits,  and  his  strict  and  frugal  life. 
I  should,  at  least,  have  liked  to  picture  him,  in  his  soft 
hat,  and  worn  overcoat,  catching  the  tramway  car  that 
runs  from  the  city  to  his  little  house  on  Portland 
Avenue,  hanging  to  a  strap  because  all  the  seats  are  oc 
cupied  by  ladies  and  workwomen.  I  should  have  en 
joyed  describing  the  simple  and  un thought-out  fare 
served  at  his  meals,  and  how,  at  the  home  of  this  reso 
lute  champion  of  temperance,  even  his  guests  must 
drink  clear  water.  One  evening,  however,  when  he 
had  invited  people  to  dinner,  I  was  astonished  to  see, 
in  front  of  each  plate,  one  large  and  one  small  glass; 
but  the  scandal  was  quashed  at  the  roast,  when  a  second 
water  was  served  to  us  with  the  solemn  announcement : 
"  Apollinaris !  "  Who  knows  if,  on  feast  days,  goblets 
of  soda  frappe  are  not  served  also*? 


134     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

The  Archbishop  is  none  the  worse  for  his  abstemious 
ness;  from  five  in  the  morning  to  ten  at  night  he 
wrestles  with  hard  work  in  spite  of  his  seventy  years, 
and  he  could  not  accomplish  more  if  he  were  but  thirty. 
With  the  aid  of  but  a  single  secretary,  he  governs  his 
diocese  and  administers  vast  interests;  he  regularly  as 
sembles  his  council  and  seeks  its  advice,  but  one  can 
truthfully  say  that  he  carries  out  everything  himself. 

Nor  is  his  work  a  simple  routine.  New  parishes  and 
new  charities  are  constantly  being  added  to  those  al 
ready  in  existence;  and  the  two  churches,  cathedral  of 
St.  Paul  and  procathedral  of  Minneapolis,  will  amount 
perhaps  to  the  trifling  sum  of  six  million  dollars !  On 
the  plateau  separating  these  two  cities,  he  founded  in 
1885  a  college  that  numbers  550  students;  ten  years 
ago  he  started  an  admirable  seminary  where  150 
students  receive  instruction  from  fifteen  priests,  trained 
in  the  universities  of  Europe;  and  in  1906  he  founded 
an  academy  for  young  girls.  It  would  be  fair  to  date 
his  activity  from  1875,  when  he  was  named  coadjutor; 
but  let  us  only  go  back  to  the  year  1884,  when  he 
became  Archbishop:  the  diocese  at  that  time  counted 
153  priests,  of  whom  126  were  secular;  in  1907  it 
counted  284,  of  which  number  245  were  secular.  If  the 
number  of  active  priests  is  the  best  sign  of  religious 
vitality,  what  shall  we  think  of  a  diocese  in  which  the 
number  has  doubled  in  twenty-five  years'? 

This  development  is  but  the  normal  continuation  of 
a  relatively  ancient  apostleship.  We  shall  be  par 
doned,  I  trust,  for  outlining  the  history  of  Minnesota: 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND          135 

it  redounds  so  greatly  to  the  glory  of  France,  who 
comes  forth  once  more  as  the  great  evangelizer;  it  sets 
forth  so  clearly  the  development  of  Catholicism  in 
North  America,  by  showing  what  it  was  formerly  and 
what  it  is  to-day.  For  once,  it  is  from  America  of  yes 
terday  that  we  must  seek  the  secrets  of  America  of  to 
morrow  :  an  inference  all  the  more  permissible,  all  the 
more  incontestable,  in  that  the  evangelical  tree  is 
planted  there  in  all  its  strength,  nor  has  the  sap  of  vi 
tality  ever  flowed  more  vigorously  than  now. 


We  shall  not  linger  over  the  beginnings,  only  stop 
ping  to  recall  the  interesting  date  the  twenty-ninth  of 
February,  1680,  when  our  great  pioneer,  Cavalier  de  La 
Salle,  sent  out  from  Fort  Crevecceur,  near  the  present 
site  of  Peoria,  the  good  Franciscan  monk,  Father  Louis 
Hennepin,  to  explore  with  two  companions  the  vague 
regions  of  the  North.  In  their  fragile  canoe,  the  three 
Frenchmen  descended  the  Illinois  as  far  as  its  con 
fluence  with  the  Mississippi;  then  ascended  the  larger 
river,  without  other  commissariat  than  luck  of  hunting 
and  fishing,  being  always  at  the  mercy  of  inclement 
weather,  wild  beasts,  and  the  tomahawk  of  the  Indian. 
Pushing  on,  they  knew  not  whither,  they  encountered, 
on  the  eleventh  of  April,  a  hundred  and  twenty  Red 
skins  fully  armed  and  hideous  in  their  war-paint,  who 
threw  themselves  upon  them  with  blood-curdling  death- 
whoops.  Having  quite  uselessly  presented  the  calumet 
of  peace,  the  missionary  hastened  to  show  and  offer  to 


136     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

the  chiefs  the  presents  he  had  brought  with  him.  The 
glass  trinkets  caught  their  eye,  and  still  more  an  axe 
which  Father  Hennepin  put  to  his  neck  to  show  the 
use  to  which  it  could  be  put;  this  gesture  of  confidence 
and  courage  won  the  Indians.  Guessing  by  their  signs 
that  they  were  on  the  warpath  in  search  of  a  hostile 
tribe,  the  Miamis,  Father  Hennepin  showed,  by  draw 
ings  on  the  sand,  that  they  had  sought  shelter  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river.  Thenceforth,  treated  as  much 
like  a  friend  as  a  captive,  he  continued  on  his  way  with 
the  Redskins,  and,  toward  the  end  of  April,  reached 
the  present  site  of  St.  Paul.  The  strange  flotilla  went 
no  further;  after  hiding  their  barque  in  the  rushes,  and 
breaking  up  the  canoe  of  the  three  white  men,  the 
Indians  led  the  latter  to  Dakota.  Hennepin  spent  his 
time  there  learning  the  language  of  the  country;  but 
his  missionary  efforts  accomplished  nothing  more  than 
the  baptism  of  a  single  sickly  child,  who  died  at  the  end 
of  a  few  days,  first-fruits  of  a  plentiful,  but  still  re 
mote,  harvest. 

When  summer  came,  bringing  buffalo-hunting  in  its 
train,  our  Indians  returned  to  the  great  river,  and,  with 
their  prisoners,  descended  the  stream  to  those  beauti 
ful  falls  which  to-day  are  the  fortune  of  Minneapolis, 
and  which  Hennepin  named  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony. 
Let  free  to  regain  Cavalier  de  La  Salle  if  possible,  or 
some  other  group  of  compatriots,  the  missionary  finally 
returned  in  the  spring  to  Montreal,  and  in  the  autumn 
to  France.  There,  in  1683,  he  published  his  famous 
book  "  Description  of  Louisiana,"  from  notes  which  it 


ARCHBISHOP   IRELAND          137 

cost  him  somewhat  more  to  collect  than  those  which  I 
am  using  here  cost  me ! 

Until  the  loss  of  Canada,  whose  fortune  it  followed, 
Minnesota,  with  the  neighboring  country,  saw  occa 
sionally,  through  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  a  few  Frenchmen,  soldiers,  priests,  or  traders. 
We  had  no  settlement  in  the  least  permanent  until  we 
come  to  Fort  Beauharnais,  near  Lake  Pepin,  where  a 
first  chapel  was  built  in  1727.  This,  like  almost  all 
traces  of  Catholicism,  disappeared  with  our  dominion. 
In  spite  of  the  praiseworthy  efforts  of  lonely  mission 
aries  scattered  among  the  Indians  of  Lake  Superior  and 
the  upper  Mississippi,  the  real  establishment  of  Chris 
tian  civilization  in  this  country  can  be  referred  to  the 
foundation  (1820)  of  Pembina  on  the  Canadian  fron 
tier,  and  especially  of  Fort  Snelling  on  the  Mississippi, 
five  miles  from  the  St.  Paul  of  to-day.  Attracted  by  the 
richness  of  the  soil  and  by  the  protection  against  the 
Indians  afforded  them  by  the  fort,  several  hundred 
settlers  established  themselves  between  1826  and  1837 
in  these  parts,  to  which  they  rather  confusedly  gave 
the  names  of  Mendota  and  St.  Peter.  About  half  of 
these  people  were  Catholics,  and  there  were  one  hun 
dred  and  eighty-five  faithful  who,  in  the  Summer  of 
1839,  received  the  pastoral  visit  of  Mgr.  Loras,  a 
Frenchman  and  Bishop  of  the  newly  created  diocese  of 
Dubuque.  The  following  year  he  sent  a  priest,  Father 
Galtier,  who  settled  at  first  at  Mendota,  but  who  may 
be  regarded  as  the  real  founder  of  St.  Paul ;  for  it  was 
he  who,  after  long  months  of  searching,  chose  the  pres- 


138     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

ent  site,  where,  at  that  time,  there  were  but  a  few 
cabins,  the  earliest  of  which,  that  of  the  Canadian  Par- 
rant,  was  but  two  or  three  years  old.  At  the  beginning 
of  October,  1841,  on  some  ground  given  him  by  two 
farmers,  B.  Gervais  and  Vital  Guerin,  he  put  together 
a  few  tree-trunks,  and  on  the  first  of  November  he  in 
augurated  the  Cathedral,  as  one  can  fancy  it.  It  cost 
no  less  than  seventy-five  dollars.  He  dedicated  it  to 
the  Apostle  of  the  Nations;  and  having,  shortly  after 
wards,  to  marry  one  Vital  Guerin,  he  declared  him  in 
the  bans  and  in  the  certificate  as  "  residing  at  St.  Paul." 
The  future  capital  of  the  future  State  of  Minnesota 
received  then  and  there  a  glorious  and  sonorous  name, 
which  brought  good  luck  to  it.  Close  by  the  church 
and  Gervais' s  farm  a  grocery  was  opened,  and  this  de 
cided  the  Mississippi  boats  to  make  a  landing  there. 
Settlers  gathered;  in  1854  tneY  numbered  3,000,  and 
St.  Paul  received  its  city  charter.  It  has  now  more 
than  200,000  inhabitants. 

Father  Galtier,  whose  nearest  colleague  lived  at 
Pembina,  three  hundred  and  eighty  miles  to  the  north, 
received  some  interesting  visits  nevertheless:  in  1840, 
that  of  Mgr.  de  Forbin- Janson,  Bishop  of  Nancy* ;  in 

*Mgr.  de  Forbin-Janson  landed  at  New  York  in  October,  1839, 
and  visited  nearly  every  part  of  North  America  that  was  then 
inhabited.  He  went  from  New  York  down  to  New  Orleans  and  up 
to  Baltimore,  where  he  assisted  at  the  Fourth  Council;  then  on  to 
Cleveland,  Buffalo,  Detroit,  and  up  the  Mississippi  to  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony.  He  visited  the  Western  Indians,  went  on  to  Quebec  and 
Montreal,  returned  to  New  York  and  started  once  more  for  Canada. 
Everywhere  he  preached  in  favor  of  stations  and  retreats,  being  even 
more  of  an  apostle  and  missionary  than  an  explorer.  He  did  not 
return  to  France  until  June  26,  1842. 


ARCHBISHOP   IRELAND          139 

1842,  that  of  Mgr.  Loras,  who  was  making  his  con 
firmation  tour  in  the  Northwest.  In  1844  he  gave  up 
the  missions  of  Mendota  and  St.  Paul  to  Father  Augus- 
tin  Ravoux,  who  had  already  for  several  years  been 
preaching  to  the  Sioux,  and  who  lived  on  until  1906, 
venerated  by  every  one  as  a  hero  of  apostolic  times, 
resting,  in  some  sort,  under  the  abundant  shade  of  the 
tree  he  had  planted.  In  spite  of  his  preference  for  the 
Indians,  into  whose  language  he  translated  hymns, 
prayers,  and  the  catechism,  he  foresaw,  and  prepared 
for,  the  Catholic  immigrants  of  the  white  race ;  the  land 
he  acquired  so  cheaply  in  those  days  has  been  of  the 
greatest  service  since. 

During  the  year  1849,  Father  Ravoux  was  still  (to 
gether  with  Father  Joseph  Bellecourt,  rector  of  Pem- 
bina)  the  only  priest  of  what  was  to  become  the  diocese 
and,  later  on,  the  province  of  St.  Paul.  The  group  of 
faithful  that  each  one  gathered  around  him  numbered 
no  more  than  five  hundred ;  yet  by  a  bold  stroke  of  wise 
foresight  the  Church  without  hesitation,  gave  a  special 
bishop  to  these  thousand  Catholics,  at  about  the  same 
time  that  Congress,  no  less  confident  of  the  future, 
made  Minnesota,  with  its  four  or  five  thousand  inhab 
itants  into  a  Territory.  All  this  took  place  in  the  very 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  raising  of  St. 
Paul  to  the  dignity  of  an  Episcopal  See  was  requested 
at  the  Council  of  Baltimore  in  May,  1849,  and  granted 
by  Rome  the  nineteenth  of  July,  1850.  Four  days 
later,  a  French  missionary,  Joseph  Cretin,  was  named 
titular  and  consecrated  Bishop  a  few  months  later, 


140     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

January  31,  1851,  at  Belley,  the  diocese  in  which  he 
lived.  Formerly  cure  at  Ferney,  where  he  had  brought 
himself  into  notice  by  his  zeal  and  talents,  he  had,  in 
1838,  at  the  call  of  Mgr.  Loras,  his  former  professor, 
left  the  famous  village  of  Voltaire  to  come  out  to  con 
vert  the  Indians  of  Iowa.  He  became  heartily  at 
tached  to  his  new  country,  and  when  he  arrived  at  St. 
Paul  during  the  early  days  of  July,  1851,  fke  St.  Paul 
Democrat  (towns  in  the  United  States  have  a  news 
paper  before  they  have  a  baker)  could  welcome  in  him 
"not  only  a  fine  man  of  great  education,  but  a  real 
American."  He  brought  five  priests  with  him  from 
France;  and  he  found  three  on  his  arrival,  the  two  we 
have  already  named,  and  Lacombe,  who  had  recently 
joined  the  rector  of  Pembina.  These  constituted  the  en 
tire  clergy  who  solemnly  received  him  in  his  seventy- 
five-dollar  cathedral.  His  jurisdiction  extended  over 
immeasurable  territory,  but  almost  uninhabited,  where 
there  were  as  yet  no  parishes  but  those  of  Pembina  and 
St.  Paul.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1857,  the  dio 
cese  counted  twenty-nine  churches  with  regular  serv 
ices,  thirty-five  chapels  with  intermittent  services, 
twenty  priests,  five  convents,  a  Benedictine  monastery, 
a  house  of  teaching  friars,  a  hospital,  several  parish 
schools,  and  a  grand  total  of  fifty  thousand  Catholics. 
A  fine  accomplishment  for  six  years! 

The  work  so  well  begun  by  him  grew  steadily.  It 
was  worthily  continued  by  his  successor,  an  American, 
Bishop  Thomas  L.  Grace,  who,  after  long  and  fertile 
work,  chose  Mgr.  Ireland  as  coadjutor  in  1875,  and 


ARCHBISHOP   IRELAND          141 

in  1884  left  him  his  see.  When  the  primitive  diocese 
of  St.  Paul  celebrated  its  jubilee,  in  1901,  it  could 
pride  itself  on  having  become,  since  1888,  a  metro 
politan  see,  with  five  suffragans,  and  on  counting  six 
hundred  priests  in  its  province,  with  400,000  Cath 
olics  and  a  proportionate  number  of  churches,  convents, 
hospitals,  and  schools.  The  archiepiscopal  city  alone 
had  twenty-three  churches. 

Such  a  jubilee  well  deserved  being  celebrated.  It 
was  but  right  to  render  thanks  to  God,  who  had  caused 
the  zeal  of  his  apostles  to  bear  fruit,  and  to  glorify 
the  names  of  the  first  missionaries  while  some  were 
still  surviving.*  It  was  but  right  also  to  render  hom 
age,  without  distinction  of  creed,  to  the  intelligent  ac 
tivity  of  all  those  who  had  broken  the  ground  where 
the  Gospel  was  reaping  such  rich  harvest,  and  to  the 
broadmindedness  of  customs,  institutions,  and  the  Gov 
ernment  which,  far  from  impeding  the  progress  of  the 
Church,  had  always  favored  it  as  an  essential  element 
of  the  common  development.  Archbishop  Ireland  ful 
filled  each  of  these  duties  by  organizing  religious 
services  at  the  seminary  and  cathedral,  and  civil  cere 
monies  in  the  streets  and  public  halls,  in  which  the  early 
recollections  of  Minnesota  and  the  names  of  her  pio 
neers  were  remembered  and  honored  in  suitable  terms. 

At  the  jubilee  Mass,  celebrated  in  the  seminary 
grounds  under  the  giant  trees  overlooking  the  course  of 
the  Mississippi  just  above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony, 
which  were  discovered  and  named  by  Father  Henne- 

*Fathers  Oster,  Goiffon,  Robert,  Buh,  and  Mgr.  Ravoux. 


142     AMERICA   OF  TO-MORROW 

pin  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Archbishop  himself 
made  an  address,  in  the  presence  of  ten  prelates  and 
four  or  five  hundred  priests,  on  "  Fifty  Years  of  Cath 
olicism  in  the  Northwest,"  an  address  that  will  un 
doubtedly  stand  as  a  monument  of  history  as  well  as  of 
eloquence.  It  would  be  very  desirable  to  have  it  trans 
lated  into  French,  were  it  only  on  account  of  the  hom 
age  it  pays  to  the  explorers  and  missionaries  of  France : 

"  Ah,  those  priests  of  the  diocese  of  St.  Paul,  above  all  those 
of  the  early  days,  those  who  founded  it !  We  are  proud  to  glorify 
their  names.  Almost  all  the  first  ones  were  sons  of  la  belle 
France,  and  most  of  the  first  Catholics  of  Minnesota  spoke 
French.  Mgr.  Cretin,  a  Frenchman,  brought  his  clergy  over 
from  France:  France  is  the  country  of  missionaries." 

Archbishop  Ireland  himself,  is  he  not  in  a  way  also 
a  "  son  of  la  belle  France  "  ? 

The  first  bishop  of  St.  Paul  picked  him  out  while 
still  a  child  to  send  him  to  study  with  us  for  eight 
years,  and  he  became  so  imbued  with  our  national  cul 
ture  that  he  won  the  rhetoric  prize  for  a  French  dis 
course. 

Another  child,  Thomas  O'Gorman,  left  St.  Paul  at 
the  same  time  to  study  for  the  priesthood  in  the  diocese 
of  Belley,  and  this  one  became,  in  1896,  Bishop  of 
Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota.  He  it  was  who  made  the 
address  at  the  afternoon  ceremony,  when  the  corner 
stone  of  the  seminary  chapel  was  laid.  We  quote  from 
his  discourse  this  wonderful  historical  summary: 

11  Wonderful  men  were  the  pioneer  bishops  of  the  Church  in 
the  Northwest,  full  of  faith  and  hope  in  God,  full  of  confidence 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND         143 

in  the  future  destiny  of  their  field  of  labor,  broad  in  view,  tireless 
in  energy.  Loras  comes  to  a  diocese,  comprising  Iowa,  Minne 
sota,  and  half  of  the  Dakotas,  and  finds  no  priest,  no  church,  a 
mere  handful  of  Catholics.  Quater  takes  possession  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  as  his  diocese,  and  there  is  no  priest  left  there  under 
his  jurisdiction.  To  Henin  are  assigned  Wisconsin  and  so  much 
of  Minnesota  as  lies  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  in  this  territory 
he  finds  but  six  priests.  Cretin  is  appointed  to  a  diocese  com 
prising  Minnesota  and  half  of  the  Dakotas,  and  what  finds  he? 
A  few  small  Catholic  settlements  in  Mendota,  St.  Anthony,  and 
Stillwater;  a  somewhat  larger  congregation  in  St.  Paul,  his  see- 
city,  and  at  that  time  a  village ;  and  one  priest,  lonely  sentinel  of 
Rome  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri, —  the  Iowa  line 
south  and  the  British  line  north, —  one  priest  whose  form 
laden  with  years  and  apostolic  labors  stands  to-day  among  us  to 
tell  of  the  trials  and  hardships  of  pioneer  days,  to  tell  with  the 
eloquence  of  a  living  object-lesson  of  the  glories  and  triumphs  of 
the  present  day.  In  the  person  of  Augustine  Ravoux  we  salute 
the  patriarch  of  this  province  which  was  once  his  parish.  He 
sowed  the  acorn  of  this  wide-spreading  oak,  he  rocked  the  cradle 
of  this  mighty  giant.  Let  the  honors  of  this  celebration  be  the 
crown  we  bind  about  his  venerable  brow. 

"  It  is  sixty-two  years  since  Loras,  the  first  of  these  North 
western  bishops  I  have  named,  arrived  in  Dubuque;  it  is  fifty 
years  since  Cretin,  the  last  of  them,  came  to  St.  Paul.  Look  at 
the  Church  as  she  is  to-day  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Minne 
sota,  and  the  Dakotas;  count  the  bishops  and  priests  and  faithful, 
and  tell  me,  is  there  anything  like  this  growth  in  the  twenty 
centuries  of  the  Church's  existence?  I  know  nothing  like  it, 
I  know  not  of  its  equal  in  the  past." 

Willingly  would  I  dwell  on  the  civil  part  of  these 
festivals,  on  all  the  meetings  and  parades;  willingly 
would  I  recall  the  speech  of  that  ancient  pioneer  of  St. 
Paul,  Auguste  Larpenteur,  who  arrived  in  1843,  at  the 


144     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

time  when  Minnesota  boasted  of  about  a  hundred  set 
tlers  : 

"I  remember  well  the  day,  Monseigneur,  it  was  in  1853, 
when  you  and  your  comrade,  little  O'Gorman,  stopped  with 
your  parents  behind  my  shop  on  Third  and  Jackson  Streets  to 
take  the  boat  to  France,  where  you  were  to  study.  You  were  lost 
to  us  for  eight  years:  you  came  back  to  us,  but  you  were  no 
longer  the  boys  I  had  seen  running  down  to  the  boat.  You  had 
fulfilled  the  hopes  of  that  excellent  man  who  had  sent  you  to  the 
Old  World." 

But  the  time  has  come  to  describe  a  more  recent  and 
more  instructive  celebration,  which  will  especially  set 
forth  a  fresh  example  of  the  excellent  relations  which 
can  exist  in  a  free  country  between  loyally  separated 
Church  and  State. 

When  I  arrived  at  St.  Paul,  in  the  beginning  of 
August,  1907,  every  one  I  met  condoled  with  me  for 
having  missed  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of  the  cath 
edral  on  the  second  of  June.  An  event  which  is  still 
discussed  two  months  afterwards  must  be,  in  America, 
something  really  out  of  the  ordinary;  and  indeed  tfhe 
Pioneer  Press,  one  of  the  most  important  newspapers 
of  that  part  of  the  country,  states  that  "no  more  im 
pressive  event  has  marked  the  history  of  the  North 
west;  neither  has  any  event  been  fraught  with  greater 
significance,  both  religious  and  civic."  tfhe  St.  Paul 
Dispatch  sees  in  it  "the  most  notable  religious  demon 
stration  in  the  history  of  the  Northwest";  and  *fke  St. 
Paul  Daily  News  places  this  demonstration  above  all 
those  that  may  have  been  caused  by  "no  matter  what 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND          145 

enterprise,  political  or  private,  local  or  national."    For 
once  I  do  not  think  the  press  has  exaggerated. 

From  early  morning  a  festive  air  pervaded  the  city. 
All  the  streets  through  which  the  parade  was  to  pass 
were  decorated  with  the  American  and  Pontifical  col 
ors;  and  the  station,  to  welcome  the  sixty  thousand 
visitors  who  would  be  attracted  by  the  ceremony,  had 
draped  the  same  yellow  and  white  flags  with  the  Star 
Spangled  Banner.  American  flags  and  flags  of  the 
Pope  mingled  likewise  on  the  platform  raised  on  the 
site  of  the  future  cathedral,  at  the  corner  of  Selby, 
Summit,  and  Dayton  Avenues,  to  greet  the  noted  visit 
ors.  The  clergy,  composed  of  three  hundred  fifty 
priests,  who  had  gathered  at  the  Seminary  of  St.  Joseph 
and  from  there  had  gone  to  the  splendid  residence  of 
Mr.  Hill*  to  call  for  the  five  archbishops  and  twenty- 
three  bishops  (in  a  word,  almost  the  entire  episcopacy 
of  the  West),  took  their  stand  on  the  platform  at  two 
o'clock.  Noticeable  among  the  laymen  in  the  first  row 
were  the  Governor  of  Minnesota,  John  A.  Johnson, 
Senator  Moses  E.  Clapp,  the  Mayor  of  the  city,  Rob 
ert  A.  Smith,  judges  and  other  functionaries,  a  Rabbi 
and  many  Protestant  clergymen,  all  the  prominent  men 
of  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  and  the  architect  of  the 
cathedral,  a  Frenchman,  Monsieur  Masqueray. 


*Mr.  Hill,  although  a  Protestant,  has  done  a  great  deal  for  the 
diocese  of  St.  Paul.  To  him  is  due  in  great  measure  the  seminary, 
for  which  he  has  given  several  hundred  thousand  dollars.  His  wife 
and  children  are  fervent  Catholics.  He  is  known  as  one  of  the  rail 
road  kings,  and  no  one  has  done  as  much  as  he  for  the  development 
of  the  Northwest.  (Cf.  Chap.  X.) 


146     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

It  was  past  this  notable  assembly  that  marched,  dur 
ing  an  hour  and  a  half,  in  perfect  order,  the  represen 
tatives  of  all  the  parishes  and  all  the  Catholic  societies 
of  the  diocese,  forming  an  army  of  no  less  than  30,000 
men.  A  squad  of  mounted  police  led  the  way  and 
forced  an  opening  through  the  crowd.  Each  division 
in  passing  the  reviewing  stand  dipped  its  flag  or  banner 
before  the  Archbishop  and  his  guests,  who  applauded 
roundly.  The  greatest  triumph  was  accorded  to  the 
Old  Guard,  composed  of  nine  citizens  who  had  assisted 
at  the  birth  of  the  town,  and  who  had  already  seen 
three  temporary  cathedrals  succeed  one  another;  the 
first  of  wood,  the  second  of  brick,  and  the  third  of 
stone,  awaiting  the  fourth  and  permanent  one,  whose 
foundations  were  being  laid.  These  veterans  were 
escorted  in  carriages  to  the  reviewing  stand  where  they 
were  assigned  a  reserved  portion,  whence  they  might 
witness  the  triumphal  procession.  Other  divisions  that 
were  enthusiastically  received  were  that  composed  of 
the  survivors  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  who 
had  fought  in  the  Civil  War  with  John  Ireland,  Chap 
lain  of  the  Minnesota  Volunteers;  that  of  the  St. 
Thomas  College  cadets,  who  receive  in  that  diocesan  es 
tablishment  an  officially  recognized  military  education ; 
that  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  marching  in  the  form 
of  a  cross ;  and  several  thousand  members  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of  Hibernians  following  the  green  flag  of  the 
Emerald  Isle;  several  national  groups,  French,  Ger 
mans,  Italians,  Bohemians,  Hungarians,  Poles,  and 
Syrians,  all  devoted  to  America  yet  faithful  to  their 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND         147 

fatherlands,  symbolizing  by  the  very  difference  of  their 
language,  their  customs,  their  emblems,  and  their  flags, 
the  universal  character  of  the  Church  whose  sons  they 
are. 

In  order  not  to  prolong  the  ceremony  beyond  measure, 
the  benediction  and  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  took 
place  during  the  parade.  While  the  seminary  choir 
chanted  the  Psalms  and  the  Veni  Creator,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
James  McGolrick,  Bishop  of  Duluth,  as  Dean  of  the 
Episcopacy,  pronounced  the  sacred  words;  Archbishop 
Ireland  spread  the  mortar  for  the  corner  stone ;  and  the 
other  bishops  and  orators  of  the  day  in  turn  tapped  the 
stone  with  a  silver  mallet,  after  which  the  Archbishop 
took  up  his  position  in  the  speakers'  stand,  greeted  with 
prolonged  applause.  As  soon  as  the  cheering  died 
away,  he  read  two  telegrams  that  called  forth  renewed 
acclamations;  one  was  from  Rome  and  the  other  from 
Washington. 

The  first  read: 

"  The  Holy  Father  greets,  with  the  brightest  omens  and  the 
most  favorable  wishes,  the  corner  stone  of  the  new  Cathedral- 
temple;  and  congratulating  you  from  the  fulness  of  his  heart, 
on  the  work  you  have  begun,  he  most  lovingly  imparts,  to 
yourself  and  to  your  faithful  flock,  the  apostolic  blessing. 

"  CARDINAL  MERRY  DEL  VAL." 
and  the  second: 

"  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  June  i. 
"ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND,  St.  Paul: 

"  In  this  fortunate  country  of  ours  liberty  and  religion  are 
natural  allies,  and  go  forward  hand  in  hand.  I  congratulate 


148     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

dl  those  gathered  to  witness  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of 
the  new  cathedral  of  St.  Paul.  I  congratulate  those  who  are  to 
worship  therein,  and  I  congratulate  especially  you  personally. 

"  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT, 
"  President  of  the  United  States." 

Archbishop  Ireland,  with  an  eloquence  and  emotion 
worthy  of  the  day,  perhaps  the  most  brilliant  of  his 
long  career,  recalled  at  first  the  humble  beginnings  of 
St.  Paul  and  compared  them  with  the  present  splendor ; 
then,  in  a  still  more  striking  contrast,  he  brought  the 
changes,  material  and  moral,  that,  since  the  pioneer 
days,  had  altered  the  face  of  all  things,  into  comparison 
with  the  superb  immutability  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  the  eternity  of  the  religion  of  God.  Starting  with 
this  idea,  he  protested,  in  the  name  of  the  great  religious 
people  of  the  United  States,  against  the  impious  swag 
gering  of  those  who  dare  to  boast  of  having  closed  the 
heavens,  darkened  the  lighted  skies,  and  concentrated 
on  the  earth  and  material  happiness  all  the  aspirations 
of  humanity.  He  showed  what  would  become  of  the 
world  apart  from  faith  in  God,  the  desolate  sadness  of 
an  aimless  life,  the  insufficiency  of  a  foundationless 
moral  code,  the  inevitable  and  triumphant  revolt  of  the 
passions  against  law  and  an  authority  with  no  support 
other  than  physical  force.  The  temple  about  to  be 
built  was  to  be  an  attestation  of  this  necessary  faith, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  faith  in  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ,  vainly  contested  by  the  so-called  higher  criti 
cism.  The  new  cathedral  would  be  the  house  of  God, 
the  house  of  Christ,  God  made  man,  where  the  precepts 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND         149 

of  His  Gospel  would  be  proclaimed,  and  the  blessings 
of  His  redemption  applied  to  needy  souls.  It  would 
also  be  the  house  of  the  city,  of  the  inhabitants  of  St. 
Paul,  toward  which  they  could  turn  in  the  hours  of 
fatigue,  of  discouragement,  and  of  temptation,  to 
understand  that  man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone;  that 
above  this  mortal  life  is  offered  a  more  beautiful  and 
a  more  lasting  one,  for  which  it  is  well  worth  while  to 
suffer  and  to  struggle  against  evil. 

The  Archbishop,  in  closing,  showed  the  need  of 
America  for  religion  and  of  religion  for  America : 

"  So  I  speak  to  the  city  of  St.  Paul, —  and  so  I  speak  to  the 
whole  land,  to  America. 

"America,  religion  needs  thee;  it  needs  the  sweet  liberty 
which  thy  flag  betokens,  the  protection  that  it  never  refuses  to 
the  divine  spirit  within  us,  which  is  conscience,  and  to  the  outer 
exercise  of  the  rights  born  of  that  spirit.  Founded  upon 
American  soil,  the  Cathedral,  confidently  and  hopefully,  up 
lifts  walls  and  dome,  secure  that  no  persecuting  edict  will  wrest 
it  from  its  sacred  purposes,  that  no  sacrilegious  hand  will  loosen 
one  single  stone  from  its  appointed  place. 

"  Where  to-day  is  the  land,  in  which  the  rights  of  religion 
are  more  safely  guarded,  in  which  more  precious  liberties  of 
word  and  of  work  are  within  its  possession?  Children  of  the 
Catholic  Church  thank  America,  and  call  yourselves  blessed  that 
you  are  the  citizens  thereof.  All  that  the  Church  needs,  all 
that  she  asks,  she  possesses  in  America  —  the  right  to  live  a 
life  unstunted,  and  unimpaired;  the  right  to  work  out 
unshackled  and  unimpeded  the  mission  with  which  Christ  has 
endowed  it.  Its  power  of  growth  is  from  within ;  it  requires  no 
propping  from  secular  arm ;  its  strength  is  its  own,  allow  it  the 
freedom  of  the  breezes  of  the  skies,  and  all  is  well  with  it.  This 


150     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

freedom  is  America's  gift  to  religion ;  this  freedom  is  America's 
own  honor  and  glory. 

"America,  in  its  turn  needs  religion;  it  needs  good  and 
virtuous  men  and  women,  loyal  and  trustworthy  citizens. 
Hence  we  feel  that  in  building  this  Cathedral  we  are  serving 
America,  we  are  guarding  and  fostering  good  morals,  the  spiritual 
power,  which  far  more  than  armies  and  navies,  far  more  than 
courts  of  justice  and  legislative  halls,  holds  its  people  in  obedi 
ence  to  the  law ;  we  are  fostering  the  life  of  the  soul,  which  far 
more  than  mines  and  harvests,  build  up  a  great  and  lasting 
nation;  we  are  lighting  the  fires  of  holy  patriotism,  which  is 
never  so  holy,  never  so  potent,  as  when  it  draws  inspiration  from 
the  very  throne  of  the  Most  High. 

"  America,  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul,  thy  name  shall  be 
honored  and  loved;  there  prayer  shall  go  upward  for  thy  life 
and  thy  glory.  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul,  rise  confidently  and 
hopefully  to  the  skies;  America  guards  and  protects  thee." 

After  the  address  of  Archbishop  Ireland,  the  civic 
part  of  the  celebration  began,  according  to  the  pleasant 
custom  of  the  country.  The  Archbishop  called  on  a 
layman,  Judge  E.  W.  Bazille,  to  speak,  and  it  was  he 
who,  acting  during  the  rest  of  the  ceremonies  as  presi 
dent,  introduced  the  other  speakers:  the  Mayor,  who 
spoke  in  the  name  of  the  city;  the  Governor,  in  the 
name  of  Minnesota ;  and  a  Senator,  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States.  To  appreciate  the  intervention  and 
the  speeches  of  these  various  representatives  of  public 
power,  it  should  be  remembered  that  they  are  all 
elected  by  the  people  —  Governor  and  Judge  as  well 
as  Senator  and  Mayor, —  so  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
they  gave  expression  to  the  common  public  opinion. 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND          151 

The  Judge  recalled  the  modest  beginnings  of  St. 
Paul,  and  turned  to  Madame  Guerin,  standing  near 
him  on  the  platform,  saluting  her  as  the  widow  of  Vital 
Guerin,  one  of  the  donors  of  the  ground  on  which  stood 
the  first  chapel.  He  recounted  the  progress  of  the  last 
sixty  years,  and  closed  with  this  homage  to  the  Arch 
bishop's  zeal : 

"  This  building  is  being  erected  through  the  efforts  of  His 
Grace  John  Ireland,  Archbishop  of  St.  Paul,  of  whom  we  are 
so  justly  proud,  and  for  whom  all  have  the  most  profound 
respect.  Coming  here  from  Ireland  at  the  age  of  eleven 
years,  and  having  resided  in  this  city  for  over  half  a  century, 
he  has  attained  great  distinction  as  a  citizen  and  a  prelate,  and 
is  known  the  world  over,  ranking  among  the  foremost  men  of 
the  day;  at  the  time  of  this  country's  greatest  need  he  volun 
teered  and  received  a  commission  as  chaplain  in  the  army.  It 
was  he  who  organized  the  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Society 
over  thirty-eight  years  ago,  and  of  which  the  benefits  shall 
never  cease.  Ordained  as  a  priest  in  St.  Paul  by  the  late  Bishop 
Grace  on  December  21,  1861,  fourteen  years  later  he  was  conse 
crated  Bishop,  and  later,  Archbishop;  and  we  trust  that  the 
time  is  not  far  distant  when  we  shall  have  the  pleasure  of 
greeting  him  as  cardinal." 

It  is  incredible  what  an  influence  the  Roman  purple 
has  over  the  imagination  of  Americans.  The  same  wish 
closed  the  excellent  speech  of  the  Mayor  of  St.  Paul : 

"  I  have  lived  in  the  Territory  and  State  of  Minnesota  for 
over  a  half-century,  and  I  am  familiar  with  the  growth  of  the 
Catholic  Church  from  its  small  membership  to  its  present 
magnificent  proportions.  I  knew  the  early  bishops  of  the  diocese 
and  many  of  the  priests,  and  the  many  troubles,  financial  and 


152     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

otherwise,  which  they  had  to  overcome,  and  we  can  only  trust 
that  they  are  now  receiving  their  reward  for  the  many  and 
noble  sacrifices  they  made. 

"  Better  than  all,  I  have  known  the  present  Archbishop,  and, 
as  we  are  dealing  with  the  present  time,  I  deem  the  occasion 
a  fitting  one  to  express  the  high  appreciation  of  the  people  of  St. 
Paul  and  the  Northwest,  in  fact  of  the  people  of  the  entire 
country,  for  this  distinguished  prelate.  He  is  everywhere  ad 
mired  for  his  great  ability;  for  his  generous  toleration  of  those 
who  differ  with  him  in  opinion;  for  his  patriotism,  his  love  of 
the  institutions  of  this  country  and  his  noble  defence  of  them 
at  all  the  times  when  needed  —  all  of  which  have  come  to  be 
recognized  as  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the  man. 

"  We  trust  that  Archbishop  Ireland's  beneficent  life  may  be 
prolonged  to  receive  even  higher  honors  in  the  church,  and  to 
officiate  for  many  years  to  come  at  the  altar  of  this  great  Cathe 
dral,  which  will  stand  for  centuries  as  a  monument  to  his 
genius,  to  his  love  of  his  church  and  his  devotion  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church,  which  he  has  so  long  and  so  faithfully  advocated." 

Governor  Johnson,  the  next  speaker,  was  greatly  ap 
plauded  when  he  arose,  as  well  as  many  times  in  the 
midst  of  his  speech.  He  was  very  popular  in  Minne 
sota,  even  with  people  of  the  most  opposite  political 
views,  and  was  becoming  so  in  the  country  at  large  to 
such  an  extent  that  many  looked  upon  him  as  a  future 
President  of  the  United  States.  I  had  the  honor  of 
being  presented  to  him  at  the  Capitol  of  St.  Paul,  and 
I  may  say  that  no  one  in  the  United  States  impressed 
me  as  having  a  clearer  and  broader  intelligence  or  a 
more  vigorous  and  self- restrained  will-power.  Being 
unable  to  quote  his  speech  in  full,  as  he  naturally  spoke 
again  of  the  recollections  we  have  already  mentioned, 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND         153 

let  us  say,  at  least  that  he  began  by  associating  with  the 
joy  of  this  great  Catholic  celebration  "  the  people  of  the 
great  commonwealth  of  Minnesota,  irrespective  of  con 
ditions  or  church  affiliations,"  and  that  he  made  a  point 
of  recalling  how  much  the  country  owed  to  the  first 
missionaries,  and  especially  to  the  nuns.  This  part  of 
his  discourse  with  what  follows,  should  be  quoted  in 
full: 

"As  long  ago  as  1727,  fifty  years  before  the  declaration  of 
our  national  independence  was  signed,  two  priests  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  founded  a  mission  where  now  is  Villa-Marie 
convent  at  Frontenac  in  this  State.  In  October,  1841,  the 
Reverend  Father  Galtier  erected  the  first  Christian  house  of 
worship  in  a  settlement  destined  to  become  the  capital  city  of  St. 
Paul,  and  in  1839,  St.  Peter's  mission,  now  Mendota,  was 
established. 

"  Closely  following  the  pioneer  priests  came  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  those  dark-robed  angels  of  peace,  who  are  ever  found 
where  there  is  need  of  the  tenderness  and  piety  of  women.  They 
were  indeed  harbingers  of  education,  and  to  them  in  no  small 
measure  is  due  the  credit  for  the  education  of  many  of  the 
fathers  and  mothers  of  the  present  generation.  Working  with 
inspired  zeal,  the  early  priests  and  sisters  of  our  commonwealth 
did  much  to  insure  the  permanency  of  the  foundations  of  our 
civilization  and  our  citizenship,  and  to-day  Minnesota  numbers 
among  her  sons  perhaps  the  most  distinguished  Catholic  prelate 
in  the  United  States,  whose  life's  work  finds  its  expression  in 
this  great  and  wonderful  memorial. 

"  When  we  contemplate  that  Minnesota  is  still  less  than 
fifty  years  old,  and  when  we  realize  that  on  this  spot  is  to  be 
erected  one  of  the  greatest  sanctuaries  of  the  world,  we  are 
forcibly  reminded  that  in  this  section  of  our  great  country 
progress  has  indeed  been  swift,  and  that  the  Americans  of  our 


154     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

generation  are  making  their  contribution  to  the  progress  of  the 
time  and  the  civilization  of  the  period.  Minnesota  has  just 
cause  to  be  proud  of  her  great  material  resources.  She  has 
much  occasion  for  pride  in  the  record  made  by  her  sons  upon 
the  battlefields  of  the  Civil  War.  She  finds  greater  cause  for 
exultation,  however,  in  the  fact  that  in  our  educational  progress 
she  leads  all  her  sister  States;  and  when  this  structure  shall 
finally  rear  her  proud  spires  and  dome  heavenward,  and  shall 
shed  a  radiance  over  the  great  Father  of  Waters,  it  will  ever 
remind  us  and  the  countless  generations  which  are  to  come  that 
there  are  some  things  which  are  eternal  and  do  not  fade  away, 
and  that  among  these  are  the  religious  institutions  which  have 
contributed  so  much  to  the  uplift  of  humanity." 

Decidedly  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  is  quite 
foreign  to  the  conceptions  that,  for  the  time  being, 
dominate  our  Republic,  and  the  ideals  of  the  Minister 
Viviani  are  not  on  the  point  of  crossing  the  Atlantic, 
as  will  be  still  further  proved  by  the  declarations  of 
Senator  Clapp,  who  spoke  after  the  Governor,  and  in 
the  name  of  the  nation : 

"  While  the  Inspired  Word  gave  man  his  first  clear,  definite 
idea  of  Deity,  it  was  not  until  Christ  came  that  man  had  a  clear 
view  of  his  relation  to  God.  ...  His  simple  teaching  touched 
the  heart  of  man  as  it  had  never  been  touched  before.  God's 
love  for  man,  man's  duty  to  God,  involving  man's  duty  to  man ; 
man's  fellowship  with  man,  formed  the  basis  of  Christ's  teach 
ing,  while  sacrifice  was  its  inspiration. 

"  As  it  was  the  vivifying  spirit  of  Christianity  which 
awakened  man  to  that  recognition  of  his  rights  which  found 
fruition  in  free  government,  so  it  is  the  spirit  of  Christianity 
which  must  keep  alive  that  sense  of  duty  which  in  the  function 
of  citizenship  we  call  patriotism,  but  which  in  its  last  analysis 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND         155 

is  man's  recognition  of  his  obligation  to  his  fellow,  which  is 
essential  to  the  welfare  and  permanency  of  free  government 
itself. 

"  View  the  subject,  then,  as  we  may,  morals,  ideals,  sense  of 
duty,  and  willingness  to  serve  mankind  —  the  essentials  of 
citizenship,  historically  and  presently  —  have  been  and  are  in 
separably  interwoven  with  the  Christian  religion.  Thus  re 
lated  to  the  development  of  the  highest  in  citizenship,  we  cannot 
overestimate  its  influence  over  the  character  of  our  people  and 
the  spirit  of  our  institutions.  It  is  thus  fortunate  indeed  that 
as  a  nation  the  great  truths  of  Christianity  are  ever  deepening 
their  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  our  people." 

The  series  of  speeches  was  terminated  by  an  exceed 
ingly  poetic  and  vibrant  address  by  Judge  William 
Kelly.  Unfortunately,  in  spite  of  its  excellence  we  can 
quote  only  the  last  words : 

"  Speaking  for  the  Catholic  laity  of  this  archdiocese,  I  would 
say:  To  you,  priests  of  the  ancient  faith,  our  obedience;  to  the 
teaching  Church  unmeasured  love!  To  you,  Senator,  represen 
tative  of  the  United  States,  our  best  services  in  times  of  peace, 
our  best  blood  should  war  assail.  To  you,  Governor  of  Min 
nesota,  and  Mayor  of  St.  Paul, —  may  God  bless  the  land  and 
keep  the  city  where  liberty  lives  and  is  safeguarded  by  the 
law.  To  you,  fellow  citizens  all,  Catholic  and  non-Catholic, 
peace  and  good  will !  " 

The  celebration  closed  with  these  words  of  good 
omen.  The  State  militia  gave  a  salute  of  twenty-one 
guns  to  which  all  the  church  bells  of  the  city  responded, 
while  the  cortege  of  twenty-eight  bishops  re-formed, 
and  the  seminarists  chanted  the  *fe  Deum,  accompanied 
by  hundreds  of  priests  and  thousands  of  believers;  a 
worthy  climax  to  a  celebration  at  once  religious  and 


156     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

patriotic,  in  which  the  Church  and  the  civic  power, 
though  separate  and  independent,  each  in  its  own  field, 
had  joined  to  render  homage  to  the  Supreme  Master, 
to  honor  their  great  men,  and  to  declare  their  devotion 
to  the  Gospel  of  Christ  and  to  the  national  institutions. 

That  the  marvellous  progress,  celebrated  in  these 
jubilee  festivities  and  the  speeches  just  quoted,  could 
have  been  accomplished  in  the  lifetime  of  a  man,  and 
that  only  sixty  years  ago  these  fertile  lands  of  Minne 
sota  were  wildernesses  where  Indians  wandered,  was 
something  I  should  have  had  great  difficulty  in 
believing,  in  spite  of  everything,  but  for  a  happy  cir 
cumstance  that  brought  before  my  eyes  a  living  demon 
stration  of  it. 

I  had  preached  on  Sunday  morning  at  the  French 
Canadian  church  of  St.  Louis,  where  our  Marist  Fa 
thers  officiate,  and  the  new  parish  priest,  Father  Remy, 
had  invited  me  to  lunch  with  Mr.  Masqueray,  the  arch 
itect,  Mr.  Willaume,  an  American  manufacturer  born 
in  the  Ardennes,  and  Judge  Kelly.  The  latter  having 
placed  his  motor  at  my  service  for  the  afternoon,  it  was 
arranged  that  I  should  be  driven  before  vespers  to 
Como  Park,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  America,  and 
after  vespers  to  Mendota  itself,  where  the  first  of  all  the 
Minnesota  missions  had  started.  The  way  there  was 
certainly  most  agreeable  and  picturesque  along  the 
varying  banks  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  gay  and  pleas 
ant  company  of  the  magistrates,  the  priest,  and  the 
manufacturer,  but  all  other  recollections  of  that  day 


ARCHBISHOP   IRELAND          157 

fade  before  the  venerable  and  original  figure  whom  I 
am  about  to  introduce  to  the  reader. 

At  Mendota  survives,  or  rather  lives,  and  very 
briskly  at  that,  Father  Joseph  Goiffon,  who  came  to  this 
same  mission  on  the  seventh  of  November,  1857,  when 
it  still  extended  as  far  as  Fort  Garry,  the  starting  point 
of  Winnipeg,  four  hundred  and  ninety  six  miles  to  the 
north.  Of  the  ninety-three  winters  he  had  already 
lived  when  I  met  him,  there  was  unfortunately  one, 
that  of  1858  which  had  left  a  most  painful  impres 
sion  :  he  lost  at  that  time  no  less  than  his  right  leg  and 
his  left  foot;  but  his  health  is  unimpaired,  and  in  the 
half  century  since  then  he  has  become  quite  accustomed 
to  his  loss.  During  thirty  years  he  was,  in  spite  of  it, 
parish  priest  of  Little  Canada,  six  miles  from  St.  Paul, 
and  since  his  retirement  to  Mendota  he  officiates  as 
active  vicar  to  Mgr.  Oster,  another  missionary  of  the 
heroic  times.  The  latter  being  absent  to-day,  Father 
Goiffon  has  energetically  intoned  two  High  Masses.  In 
truth  he  appears  stronger  than  I,  and  with  his  cassock 
to  help  the  illusion,  as  he  hobbles  on  his  cane  he  looks, 
at  most,  as  though  he  was  suffering  with  gout.  Noth 
ing  would  be  farther  from  the  truth,  for  his  left  foot 
and  his  right  leg  are  of  strong,  if  not  elegant  constitu 
tion,  and  made  entirely  by  himself.  In  vain  the  Arch 
bishop  has  offered  to  buy  some  in  the  latest  style 
for  him;  in  vain  Mr.  Willaume  has  offered  to  man 
ufacture  them  according  to  his  own  ideas;  always 
he  refuses,  preferring,  perhaps,  to  remain  a  true  type 
of  the  self -made  man. 


158     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Father  Goiffon  has  but  one  fault,  but  that  a  very 
serious  one  to  travellers  in  search  of  memories.  When 
he  has  been  persuaded,  not  without  some  trouble,  to  tell 
his  story  before  me,  and  I  take  out  my  pencil  to  jot 
down  a  few  notes,  he  stops  short  and  refuses  absolutely 
to  go  on,  so  that  I  am  obliged  to  write  haphazard  on 
my  knee,  keeping  my  eyes  on  him,  all  the  time,  that  he 
may  not  suspect  me.  So  here  is  what  I  can  make  out 
of  my  hieroglyphics,  after  suppressing  a  few  repetitions 
and  bringing  it  a  little  into  order,  but  preserving  as  far 
as  possible  his  exact  expressions : 

"  Father  Ravoux  wrote  me  to  go  to  see  him  at  the  end  of  the 
winter  (he  was  administrator  of  the  new  diocese  of  St.  Paul, 
between  the  episcopacy  of  Bishop  Cretin  and  that  of  Bishop 
Grace).  I  replied  that  we  had  received  notice  from  all 
the  Sioux  tribes  that  we  should  meet  them  on  the  great  prairie 
as  there  was  to  be  war  with  the  Chippewas,  so  I  did  not  start 
until  the  middle  of  October  for  Fort  Garry  and  to  visit  some 
Indian  missions  on  the  way.  We  were  four  or  five  men,  with 
a  good  tent  carried  on  a  cart.  As  we  passed  within  thirty 
miles  of  St.  Joseph  just  before  All  Saints  Day  I  wanted  to  go 
there  to  hold  Mass,  but  the  others  would  not  follow  me  because 
there  was  a  blizzard.  So  I  started  alone  on  horseback,  think 
ing  they  would  follow.  For  the  first  two  days  all  went  well; 
I  slept  in  the  woods;  but  I  wanted  to  take  a  short  cut  across 
the  prairie,  and  I  lost  my  way.  The  blizzard  grew  so  violent 
that  I  could  no  longer  make  headway  against  it.  I  wrapped 
myself  in  my  buffalo  skin  and  huddled  close  to  the  horse,  my 
head  on  my  saddle,  and  went  to  sleep.  Once,  I  waked  up  and 
found  myself  covered  with  snow,  and  then  I  fell  asleep  again. 
When  I  woke  up,  my  horse  was  dead;  I  tried  to  move  and 
could  not,  and  fell  asleep  again.  I  don't  know  just  how  long 


ARCHBISHOP   IRELAND          159 

it  lasted ;  I  slept  all  the  time  and  did  not  suffer,  I  did  not  know 
I  was  frozen.  Once  I  tried  to  take  a  pencil  to  note  the  Masses 
I  had  promised,  that  some  other  priest  might  celebrate  them 
in  my  stead ;  but  I  failed  and  fell  asleep  again,  and  the  next  day 
I  woke  up,  very  much  surprised  not  to  be  dead. 

"  Then  I  prayed  to  God,  '  I  do  not  want  to  die  here,'  for  such 
and  such  reasons,  and  I  promised  ten  Masses.  Then,  to  my 
guardian  angel  I  said:  'Go  and  get  someone  for  to-morrow.' 
At  last  I  dragged  myself  to  my  horse,  and  with  my  knife  I  cut 
away  the  skin  under  the  shoulder,  and  ate  a  good  piece.  Then 
I  went  to  sleep  again  for  nearly  the  whole  night.  About 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  looked  to  see  whether  my  guardian 
angel  had  accomplished  his  task,  and  I  saw  a  young  man  on  the 
prairie.  When  I  called  him,  he  ran  away,  thinking  it  was  a 
wolf,  but  I  called  out  my  name,  and  he  came  back  with  an 
other  man.  They  were  two  of  my  companions.  They  rolled 
me  up  in  a  blanket  and  sent  me  to  Pembina,  and  then  in  a  car 
riage  to  Fort  Garry.  Still  I  did  not  suffer  at  all. 

"  What  was  so  painful  was  the  thawing  out.  At  the  end  of 
eighteen  days  my  feet  began  to  split,  and  then  I  suffered  hor 
ribly.  The  Mission*  sent  to  get  me.  At  the  hospital, 
they  cut  off  my  leg.  I  did  not  expect  that;  I  had  thought  I 
was  saved,  and  they  cut  off  my  leg !  They  cut  off  only  one, 
anyway,  because  they  found  me  too  weak. 

"  I  was  put  up  in  the  house  of  Monseigneur.  At  the  end  of 
nine  days,  an  artery  burst  and  I  lost  a  great  deal  of  blood. 
They  were  so  sure  I  was  done  for,  that  the  carpenter  began 
my  coffin,  and  the  good  sister  had  some  candles  made  for  my 
funeral.  Suddenly,  the  tallow  jumped  out  into  the  stove  and 
set  fire  to  the  place;  in  an  hour  the  Bishop's  house  and  the 
cathedral,  which  were  of  wood,  were  burned  up.  I  was  in 
the  little  room  and  I  heard  the  cry  of  '  Fire ! '  and  I  saw  the 
smoke.  Somebody  cried,  '  Save  Father  Goiffon,'  and  I  replied, 

*That  of  St.  Boniface,  where  there  had  been   a  bishop  since  1847. 


160     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

'  Save  something  else.'  But  they  did  not  listen  to  me.  They 
set  me  down  on  the  sidewalk  and  afterwards  took  me  to  the 
sisters'.  Eight  days  later,  I  had  another  hemorrhage.  I 
received  extreme  unction,  and  they  thought  I  was  dead.  Not 
at  all ;  I  got  well.  Only,  a  month  afterwards,  they  cut  off  the 
toes  of  my  left  foot.  That  is  all." 


CHAPTER  VIII 
WESTERN  CANADA 

A  PROPERTY  OF  36o,OOO  SQUARE  MILES WINNIPEG 

AND  ST.  BONIFACE RELIGION  IN  WESTERN  CANADA 

GREAT    DISTANCES   AND    GREAT    DELAYS THE 

ENDLESS   PRAIRIE A   CITY   MORE   SERIOUS   THAN 

ELEGANT:  CALGARY  —  ADVICE  TO  YOUNG  COLONISTS 
BANFF THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS  —  FIRST  ASI 
ATICS DIALOGUE  WITH  A  JAPANESE THE  RACE 

QUESTION  AT        VANCOUVER LANDSCAPE        AND 

PARK IN        CHINATOWN       AND       THE       JAPANESE 

QUARTER WHITE       AGAINST     YELLOW      RACE A 

SERIOUS  NEWSPAPER. 

go  from  New  York  to  Quebec  —  both  old  cities 
and  within  fifteen  years  contemporaneous  with 
each  other  —  is  almost  to  change  planets,  or  at  least  to 
leave  the  New  World  for  a  town  in  the  French  prov 
inces.  But,  arriving,  as  I  did,  from  Minnesota  and 
crossing  the  Canadian  frontier  west  of  the  Great  Lakes, 
the  difference  is  hardly  perceptible.  The  same  lan 
guage  almost  everywhere,  and  the  same  customs  as  in 
the  United  States;  the  same  hurried  growth,  the  same 
boldness  of  enterprise;  even,  if  possible,  fewer  tradi 
tions  and  greater  newness.  If  the  American  West  is 

161 


162     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

in  the  fulness  of  youth,  the  Canadian  West  is  but  a 
great  child,  precocious  and  vigorous,  whose  growth 
stupefies  statisticians  every  time  they  take  its  measure. 
It  is,  in  very  truth,  the  "America  of  To-morrow." 

Until  1869  there  was  a  little  corner  of  land  there, 
equal  in  extent  to  about  half  of  Europe,  of  which  the 
rest  of  the  world,  and,  above  all,  the  Canadian  Govern 
ment,  ignored  the  riches  and  almost  the  very  existence. 
Since  1670,  or  for  two  hundred  years,  it  had  belonged 
to  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  to  whom  it  was  granted 
by  King  Charles  II,  and  which  drew  an  enormous  rev 
enue  from  its  fur  trade.  It  was  carefully  kept  in  all 
its  wildness;  a  few  officers  in  the  forts,  which  served 
also  as  stores,  and  the  traders  who  roamed  the  prairie 
in  search  of  Indians  from  whom  they  bought  pelts  at 
ridiculously  low  prices,  these  were  the  only  representa 
tives  of  civilization,  the  only  instruments  of  develop 
ment.  A  treasure  of  such  a  size  could  not  however  be 
kept  forever  hidden.  The  missionaries  who  penetrated 
farther  and  farther  into  the  West,  taught  their  savage 
or  half-breed  neophytes  how  to  cultivate  the  ground, 
and  they  saw  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  made  no  secret 
of  it.  They  were  borne  out  by  some  explorers,  and  the 
Dominion,  perceiving  what  an  enormous  future  lay 
before  these  lands,  opened  negotiations  with  the  power 
ful  Company,  which  ended  in  allowing  them  to  retain 
their  forts  and  trading  stations  and  7,000,000  acres  of 
land,  while  the  rest  reverted  to  the  Government  for  an 
indemnity  of  $1,500,000  —  not  too  big  a  price  for  a 
piece  of  property  containing  some  400,000,000  acres, 


WESTERN   CANADA  163 

not  to  speak  of  the  forests,  fisheries,  coal  and  metal 
mines. 

When  this  memorable  act  was  passed,  in  July,  1870, 
Winnipeg,  where  I  found  rather  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  could  boast  of  but  just  a  hun 
dred,  grouped  around  Fort  Garry,  one  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company's  stations.  In  1901  it  had  42,340  in 
habitants,  so  it  can  be  seen  how  rapid  has  been  its 
growth.*  It  may  be  pardoned  for  having  neither  the 
elegance  of  Paris  nor  the  poetry  of  Nuremberg.  I 
would  not  propose  a  visit  there  to  the  tourist  in  search 
of  the  aesthetic :  he  would  do  better  to  linger  at  Quebec, 
or  even  Chicago!  The  good  that  can  be  said  of  the 
appearance  of  Winnipeg  —  whose  name,  it  seems, 
means  muddy  water  —  is  that  its  streets  are  broad, 
its  houses  well  spaced  and  very  hygienic.  Its  wooden 
sidewalks  enable  one  to  avoid  (unless  it  is  necessary 
to  cross  the  street)  the  good  Manitoba  earth  which  fills 
the  fields  with  wheat,  and  the  cities  with  mud  black  as 
axle-grease.  I  quite  understand  that  one  of  the  Indian 
tribes  that  trod  this  ground  bore  the  name  of  Black- 
foot. 

I  have,  all  the  same,  a  very  pleasant  recollection  of 
my  two  days  at  Winnipeg.  Arriving  there  without  any 
letters  of  introduction,  I  was  nevertheless  welcomed 
with  the  kindest  hospitality.  The  priests  of  St.  Mary's 
Church,  where  I  went  to  say  Mass  on  leaving  the  train, 


*The  increase  would  have  been  greater  still  had  not  the  panic 
of  1882,  which,  however,  hit  speculators  only,  applied  the  brake  to  the 
growth  of  the  town. 


164     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

would  not  allow  me  to  stop  anywhere  but  with  them. 
They  belonged  to  the  community  of  Oblates  of  Mary 
Immaculate,  the  same  as  those  who  formerly  officiated 
at  the  sanctuary  of  Montmartre  at  Paris,  and  who 
stand  far  ahead  of  all  others  in  the  history  of  the  young 
Church  of  western  Canada.  From  their  ranks  have 
come  the  present  Archbishop  of  St.  Boniface,  the  Bishop 
of  St.  Albert  and  New  Westminster,  the  Apostolic 
Vicars  of  Athabaska,  Saskatchewan,  and  Mackenzie,  in 
a  word  the  entire  episcopacy  of  the  West,  excepting 
the  Bishop  of  Victoria.  Six  priests  gathered  around 
their  provincial,  Father  Magnan,  do  the  parochial  work 
of  St.  Mary's.  As  everywhere  on  this  continent,  they 
tell  me  of  the  rapid  advance  of  Catholicism.  Mgr. 
Tache  celebrated  Mass  for  the  first  time  at  Winnipeg 
on  June  15,  1870,  in  a  little  oratory  of  the  school 
opened  the  preceding  year  by  the  Gray  Sisters.  To 
day,  the  city  is  divided  into  six  parishes  with  schools 
and  other  prosperous  works.  In  1817  there  was  not  a 
Catholic  priest  in  the  entire  West;  two  went  there  in 
1818;  in  1845,  wnen  the  first  bishop  arrived,  he  found 
six  priests.  To-day  there  are  two  archdioceses  with 
five  suffragans,  and  in  1907  there  were,  in  the  single 
diocese  of  St.  Boniface,  205  priests,  93  churches,  an  al 
most  equal  number  of  schools,  16  charitable  institu 
tions,  and  87,218  believers.  In  the  whole  of  Canada 
there  were  8  archbishops,  25  bishops,  3,819  priests, 
2,506  churches,  14  seminaries,  47  universities  and  col 
leges,  263  charitable  institutions,  and  2,447,639  Cath 
olics.  The  last  number  comes  to  about  two-fifths  of 


WESTERN   CANADA  165 

the  population,  as  the  last  decennial  census  of  1901 
places  the  total  number  of  inhabitants  at  5>3719375. 
The  same  census  gave  only  16,000  French  Canadians 
out  of  35,000  Catholics  in  Manitoba,  and  7,000  out  of 
35,000  in  Athabaska  and  Saskatchewan. 

The  recollections  of  my  hosts  have  none  of  the  dry- 
ness  of  figures.  One  of  them,  preaching  a  retreat  in  an 
insane  asylum  near  Montreal,  was  walking  on  his  sec 
ond  evening  with  one  of  his  auditors,  more  sane  of 
appearance  than  the  others:  "  How  long  have  you  been 
here*?"  the  inmate  suddenly  asked  him. 

"I  arrived  the  day  before  yesterday." 

"And  how  long  do  you  expect  to  stay4?" 

"  Not  more  than  a  week." 

"Oh,  don't  you  believe  it!"  he  replied.  "That  is 
what  they  told  me  when  I  arrived,  and  I  have  been  here 
twelve  years." 

It  would  be  more  appropriate  to  retail  what  the  mis 
sionaries  told  me  of  their  work  among  the  Indians,  but 
having  taken  no  notes  of  their  very  interesting  conver 
sation,  I  really  remember  only  this  anecdote,  and  have 
studiously  refrained  from  making  up  anything. 

Another  thing  I  have  not  forgotten  is  the  reply  made 
me  by  the  superior  of  a  very  prosperous  convent-school. 
When  she  showed  me  the  magnificent  dormitories,  I 
asked  her  if  the  older  girls  at  least  did  not  have  sepa 
rate  rooms.  "No,"  she  replied  quickly,  "the  super 
vision  of  them  would  be  impossible."  Only  a  few 
days  before,  I  had  visited  a  similar  convent  at  St.  Paul, 
and  as  the  superior  was  showing  me  the  charming  little 


i66     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

rooms  which  the  girls  had  to  themselves  or  shared  with 
one  or  perhaps  two  others  I  asked  her  if  she  had  no 
dormitories:  "No,"  she  replied,  "we  must  train  them, 
young,  to  make  a  right  use  of  independence."  This 
detail  gives  an  insight  into  the  differing  methods  of 
French  Canadians  and  American  Catholics. 

On  the  way  to  the  convent,  the  amiable  cure  of  St. 
Mary's  had  driven  me  rapidly  past  long  rows  of  smartly 
commonplace  houses  where  the  people  of  Winnipeg 
rest  from  their  business  affairs.  And  we  had  to  pass  a 
great  many  others  before  reaching  the  road  to  St.  Bon 
iface.  Except  that  there  was  more  space  and  more 
wealth,  one  might  think  oneself,  as  far  as  the  style  was 
concerned,  at  anyone  of  our  work-towns  of  Le  Creusot, 
Noisiel,  or  any  prosperous  industrial  centre  in  France. 
The  heavy  mud  did  not  seem  in  the  least  to  bother  our 
brisk  little  horse,  but  at  the  end  of  the  town  it  became 
so  deep  that  we  had  to  turn  out  of  the  road  to  avoid 
sinking  into  it.  The  people  of  Winnipeg  can  indulge 
at  home  in  the  mud-bath  treatment  of  Dax.  To  be 
sure,  they  tell  me  they  have  a  great  deal  of  rain,  and 
my  absence  of  enthusiasm  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  it  is  still  raining. 

St.  Boniface,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Red  River, 
has  but  five  or  six  thousand  inhabitants,  most  of  them 
speaking  French.  The  first  missionaries  settled  here, 
and  in  1847  came  the  first  bishop,  Mgr.  Provencher, 
who  was  replaced  in  1853  by  Bishop  Tache,  one  of  the 
greatest  promoters  of  civilization  and  the  Faith  in  the 
Northwest.  St.  Boniface  was  raised  to  be  an  arch- 


WESTERN   CANADA  167 

bishopric  in  1871.  Mgr.  Lagevin  who,  in  1895  suc" 
ceeded  Mgr.  Tache,  is  a  very  active,  as  well  as  a  simple 
and  sympathetic  man.  Having  been  unable  to  an 
nounce  my  arrival,  I  was  not  fortunate  enough  to  meet 
him.  Monsieur  Lionnet,  who  was  more  lucky  than  I, 
has  drawn  this  portrait  of  him : 

"  He  belongs  to  the  community  of  Oblates,  and  is  a  typical 
Canadian  bishop.  Small,  but  very  robust,  his  movements  so 
quick  as  to  be  almost  brusque,  his  commanding  air,  and  some 
thing  in  his  manner  more  soldierly  than  priest-like,  show  him  to 
be  made  for  command,  and  for  struggle  too.  No  one  more 
vigorously  combated  the  Liberals  in  the  1896  elections.  A 
powerful  speaker,  he  treats  of  secular  questions  as  frequently 
and  with  as  much  pleasure  as  religious  ones.  He  brings  a 
heroic  energy  to  bear  on  anything  he  undertakes.  If  he  were 
to  be  compared  with  any  French  bishop,  one  would  naturally 
think  of  Mgr.  Turinaz.  .  .  .  The  Archbishop  of  St.  Boniface 
has  one  great  merit:  in  the  Manitoban  Babel  he  upholds  his 
own  race;  he  loves  his  French  Canadians  and,  without  neglect 
ing  the  other  Catholics,  he  cherishes  those  in  whom  he  rightly 
sees  the  great  Christian  force  of  the  future,  provided  they  keep 
their  cohesion  around  their  clergy."  * 

I  see  at  St.  Boniface,  as  I  have  so  often  seen  in  Amer 
ica,  a  new  cathedral  being  built;  the  people  are  no 
longer  satisfied  with  the  old  one,  which  was  built  half 
a  century  ago,  when  the  wooden  church  was  set  on  fire 
by  a  nun  making  tapers  for  the  expected  funeral  of 
Father  GoifTon. 

I  had  the  pleasure  the  next  day  to  meet  with  Father 
GoifTon  —  oh,  not  in  person ;  he  can  no  longer  travel  — 

•Chez  les  Fran^ais  du  Canada,  pp.  167-169. 


168     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

but  his  portrait  and  his  story  in  "La  Vie  de  Mgr. 
Tache,"  by  Don  Benoit.*  The  historian's  account  dif 
fers  but  little  from  that  given  me  by  the  hero  himself, 
but  it  adds  a  few  details.  He  tells  how  Father  Goif- 
fon,  priest  of  the  diocese  of  Belley,  charged  with  the 
missions  of  St.  Joseph  and  of  Pembina,  was  returning 
from  a  visit  to  the  Bishop  of  St.  Paul  f  and  that,  anx 
ious  to  reach  his  missions,  he  separated  from  his  com 
panions  on  the  third  of  November.  So  great  was  the 
tempest  of  wind  and  snow  that  his  horse  stopped  at 
nightfall,  to  move  no  more.  On  the  morning  of  the 
eighth,  which  makes  five  nights  passed  in  the  snow, 
Father  GoifTon  was  found  by  Mr.  Printchard,  who  was 
on  his  way  to  the  Red  River.  He  was  taken  to  Pem 
bina,  and  when  he  had  somewhat  recovered,  he  was 
moved  to  St.  Boniface,  where  he  arrived  on  November 
28.  It  was  on  December  3  that  his  leg  was  amputated. 
It  seems  a  singular  idea  to  go  to  Manitoba  to  study 
the  lives  of  the  bishops.  It  would  undoubtedly  be 
easier  to  read  them  at  home  or  at  the  Bibliotheque  Na- 
tionale,  but  it  was  the  fault  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway.  I  had  planned  to  start  at  half-past  ten  in 
the  morning  to  reach  Calgary,  at  the  foot  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  in  the  middle  of  the  next  afternoon. 
Thirty  hours,  including  one  night,  on  the  train  would 
pass  quickly,  and  then  I  should  be  half-way  to  the  Pa 
cific.  I  was  so  afraid  of  being  late  that  I  arrived  at 


*Vol.  I,  pp.  443-445- 

tOr    rather    according    to    his    own    account,    to    Father    Ravoux, 
administrator  of  the  vacant  diocese.    See  above  pp.  158-160. 


WESTERN   CANADA  169 

the  station  a  little  before  ten,  withdrew  my  trunk 
from  the  baggage-room,  and  presented  it  to  be  checked. 

"We  don't  take  baggage  more  than  an  hour  before 
the  train  leaves,"  they  told  me. 

"  Well,  exactly,  I  am  leaving  by  the  half -past- ten 
train." 

"  Train  number  so-and-so1?  "  (I  have  forgotten  the 
number.) 

"Yes." 

"Then  come  back  this  afternoon." 

"The  train  is  late?"  I  asked. 

"Certainly." 

"But,  at  what  time  do  you  expect  it4?" 

"We  don't  know  yet,  but  we  can  let  you  know 
later  " ;  and  he  closed  the  ticket- window.  I  returned, 
somewhat  crestfallen,  to  the  house  of  the  good  Oblates, 
who  explained  to  me  that  these  main-line  trains  (we 
may  say  here  that  they  run  3,756  miles)  are  not  very 
punctual,  and  no  one  goes  to  take  one  without  first  tele 
phoning  to  see  at  what  time  it  will  pass  through. 
When  we  telephoned  in  the  afternoon,  I  learned  that 
my  half-past-ten  train  should  arrive  at  half-past  four. 
We  are  in  the  country  of  great  distances  and  great 
delays:  I  shall  have  this  brought  to  my  notice  more 
than  once,  and  these  six  hours  will  be  followed  by 
several  dozen  others.  Thus  it  was  that,  feeling  no 
attraction  toward  the  monuments  of  Winnipeg,  I 
spent  several  studious  hours  in  the  library  of  the 
Oblate  Fathers. 

The  rather  trying  day  ended  not  so  badly.     In  the 


170     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

environs  of  Winnipeg  (I  speak  of  environs  in  the  Amer 
ican  sense),  a  radius  of  several  miles,  the  prairies,  in 
these  days  of  early  August,  is  very  poetic  with  its  hay 
making,  and  its  boundless  sea  of  green  corn  and  wheat. 
The  night  in  the  Pullman  car  rests  me,  and  I  am  in  a 
good  humor  the  next  morning  when  I  first  look  out  of 
the  window.  But  I  am  greeted  by  a  disillusionment 
that  increases  hour  by  hour  until  it  becomes  oppressive ! 
The  prairie,  now  that  we  have  left  behind  the  cul 
tivated  part  and  reached  the  great  grazing  lands,  dried 
up  by  the  Summer  sun,  is  a  desert  with  grass,  without 
form  or  color.  This  desert,  like  all  the  others  was  once 
roamed  over  by  nomad  tribes  who,  according  to  the 
seasons  for  the  grass,  went  up  North  in  Summer  and 
down  South  in  Winter.  But  these  strange  shepherds 
followed,  or  rather  hunted,  only  wild  herds :  buffaloes, 
providential  animals,  from  which  they  obtained  satis 
faction  of  all  their  needs,  which  were  reduced  to  nour 
ishment,  shelter,  and  clothing.  Their  worship  was 
that  of  the  sun,  apparent  arbiter  of  their  fate.  Their 
only  possessions  were  tents,  horses,  and  weapons,  the 
latter  more  for  war  than  the  chase.  As  some  called 
themselves  Crees  and  the  others  Blackfeet,  they 
fought  and  scalped  each  other  whenever  the  occasion 
offered.  Nowadays,  those  that  remain  are  much 
calmed  down,  but  the  day  to  which  they  look  forward 
is  that  when  the  white  man  shall  leave  the  prairie  and 
the  buffalo  will  come  up  again  out  of  the  ground.  For 
the  buffalo  has  disappeared!  They  were  terribly 
slaughtered,  sometimes  as  many  as  a  million  killed  in 


WESTERN   CANADA  171 

a  year,  and  now  they  are  to  be  met  with  only  as  cu 
riosities  kept  in  the  national  parks.  Not  a  single  one 
shows  himself  on  the  plains  to  relieve  the  monotony  of 
the  journey.  All  that  meets  our  drowsy  eyes  is,  here 
and  there,  at  great  distances  from  each  other,  small 
herds  of  cattle  or  horses,  a  few  wooden  sheds  around  a 
station,  or  a  gang  of  workmen  repairing  the  road. 
Everywhere,  stretching  away  to  the  horizon,  the  car 
pet  of  dry  grass,  and  always  at  our  feet  the  straight 
and  narrow  path  that  unrolls  between  the  rails  like  an 
endless  strap  between  two  pullies. 

There  is  no  desert,  though,  without  oases.  The  rare 
streams  we  cross  are  bordered  with  trees  and  verdure, 
and  it  is  here  that  the  small  bands  of  colonists  settle. 
But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  each  station  represents 
a  town,  nor  even  a  straggling  village;  most  of  them  are 
nothing  but  stopping-places,  and  the  greatest  distinction 
they  offer  is  that  of  their  names:  High  Bluff,  Portage- 
la-Prairie,  Melbourne,  Brandon,  Red- Jacket,  Ou'  Ap- 
pelle,  Regina,  Grand  Coulee,  Pasqua,  Moosejaw,  a 
convenient  abbreviation  of  a  single  Indian  word  which 
means,  it  seems,  "  the  little  stream  where  a  white  man 
mended  a  cart  with  a  moose- jaw."* 

After  passing  Moosejaw,  little  stream,  etc.,  the  coun 
try  becomes  somewhat  modified,  it  is  arable  and  undu 
lating,  one  feels  the  nearness  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
A  powerful  concern,  the  Canadian  Land  and  Ranch 


*At  least,  that  is  the  statement  made  by  the   author  of  a  pleasant 
work,    "De    Quebec   a    Victoria,"    A.   B.  Routhier    (Quebec,    1893),   p. 


172     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

Company,  has  developed  immense  farms  here  which  it 
has  rendered  very  productive  by  irrigation.  Near  the 
station  of  Swift  Current,  at  an  altitude  of  two  thousand 
feet  it  grazes  sixteen  thousand  head  of  sheep.  Farther 
on  near  Kincorth,  it  has  six  thousand  on  a  single  farm, 
and  on  another,  seven  thousand  cattle  and  five  hundred 
horses.  This  part  of  the  country  that,  from  now  on, 
attains  in  places  to  five  thousand  feet  of  altitude,  is 
well  watered  and  becomes  more  and  more  suitable  for 
cattle-raising,  while  the  lowlands  are  cultivated.  Med 
icine  Hat,  which  is  only  2,300  feet  above  sea  level,  and 
serves  as  an  outlet  for  all  sorts  of  farm  products,  has 
already  3,500  inhabitants.  With  its  temperate  cli 
mate,  the  wood,  coal,  and  natural  gas  found  in  the 
neighborhood  and  which  add  their  riches  to  those  of  agri 
culture,  it  looks  as  though  this  big  market-town  with 
the  whimsical  name  were  destined  to  enjoy  a  great  fu 
ture.  You,  my  young  French  friends,  who  prefer 
manual  labor  to  arts  and  letters,  go  to  Medicine  Hat ! 
Do  not  ask  me  any  more  about  the  landscape.  I 
expected  to  pass  here  at  midday  and  we  went  through 
at  eleven  o'clock  at  night  instead.  We  shall  arrive  at 
Calgary  at  two  o'clock  instead  of  three :  at  two  in  the 
morning,  of  course,  instead  of  three  in  the  afternoon. 
Naturally,  one  becomes  restless,  it  is  impossible  to  read 
all  day  long;  I  tried  to  engage  in  conversation,  but 
there  was  no  one  interesting  on  board;  I  fell  back  on 
the  colored  Pullman  porter,  who  talked  familiarly 
with  every  one,  and  I  asked  him  which  he  preferred,  the 
United  States  or  Canada.  "  The  United  States,"  he  re- 


WESTERN   CANADA  173 

plied,  without  hesitation,  and  when  I  sought  to  know 
why,  he  gravely  added:  "Because  they  play  base-ball 
better  there."  I  pointed  out  some  colonist  encamp 
ments,  and  I  said  to  him  laughingly:  "That  is  what 
you  will  be  doing  when  you  have  saved  up  enough." 
"I?"  he  replied,  "I  shall  retire  to  New  York  and 
watch  the  ball  games."  It  is  discouraging! 

I  found  some  one,  though,  more  unhappy  than  I :  an 
Ontario  farmer,  little  used  to  living  with  what  thoughts 
he  has,  who  walks  up  and  down  the  car  like  a  caged 
tiger.  He  is  all  the  more  restive  because  he  undertook 
the  journey  as  a  pleasure  trip  for  himself  and  his  com 
panion,  a  woman,  of  unpromising  appearance,  who 
must  have  been  his  daughter,  unless  she  is  (and  I  would 
pity  him)  his  wife.  She  did  not  open  her  mouth,  but 
looked  at  magazines  and  flirted  a  bit  with  a  young 
traveller  as  stupid-looking  as  herself.  "  Come,  sir," 
said  I  to  the  sad  Ontarian,  "don't  forget  you  are  travel 
ling  for  pleasure !  "  And  his  sadness  made  me  give  rein 
to  such  a  frank  burst  of  laughter  that  even  he  cheered 
up  a  bit.  And  that,  with  the  study  of  the  negro,  was 
all  there  was  to  enliven  a  thirty-four-hour  journey! 

I  had  asked  the  porter  to  wake  me  before  Calgary; 
he  made  me  get  up  two  hours  too  soon.  How  well 
worth  while!  The  train  stopped  there,  and  conscious 
of  its  lateness,  decided  to  put  an  end  to  it  by  mingling 
with  the  following  train.  Perhaps  it  is  the  very  same 
I  was  to  take  the  next  afternoon,  that  day  or  the  next ! 
I  did  not  care  any  more  to  know  about  time,  and  I  let 
myself  be  led,  like  a  body  without  a  soul,  to  some  sort 


174     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

of  a  hotel  where  I  went  to  sleep  for  three  or  four  hours 
in  a  diminutive  room.  The  noise  in  the  street  woke 
me  early;  and  had  not  rain  drawn  a  veil  between  me 
and  it,  the  rising  sun  would  have  seen  me  wandering 
the  streets  of  Calgary  on  the  wooden  sidewalks  and,  as 
rarely  as  possible,  crossing  the  rivers  of  black  mud  that 
served  as  roadways. 

It  is  the  typical  American  town  in  the  process  of 
formation,  with  its  broad  streets  but  half  built  up. 
In  the  centre,  monumental  banks,  cobblers'  shops,  bars 
where  they  sell  beer  and  postal  cards,  popular  restau 
rants,  luxurious  shops,  Chinese  laundries,  attractive  lit 
tle  wooden  houses,  all  separated  from  each  other  at 
indefinite  distances.  This  inharmonious  aspect  does 
not  prevent  Calgary  from  being  very  prosperous,  and 
puffed  up  with  hopes.  Situated  at  the  junction  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  with  the  lines  of  Edmonton  to  the 
north  and  Macleod  to  the  south,  it  is  the  natural  centre 
of  economic  distribution  between  the  ore  of  the  moun 
tains  and  the  ranches  that  border  the  Saskatchewan.  It 
is  the  most  important  town  between  Winnipeg  and 
Vancouver.  Bow  River  brings  down  rafts  of  logs  and 
furnishes  the  water  which  feeds  the  great  irrigation 
canal  by  which  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  Company 
fertilizes,  to  the  east,  three  million  acres  on  both  sides 
of  its  tracks. 

Calgary's  rival  is  Edmonton,  the  capital  of  Alberta, 
which  lies  due  north  eight  hours  by  railroad.  My 
readers  would  do  well  to  visit  it  in  company  with  Mon 
sieur  Lionnet  if  they  care  for  a  striking  insight  into  the 


WESTERN   CANADA  175 

impressions  of  the  colonists  who  seek  and  find  their 
fortune  there ;  or,  if  they  would  like  to  go  still  farther, 
beyond  Slave  Lake,  I  would  suggest  their  following 
Mademoiselle  de  Saint-Pierre  in  her  bear-hunt  —  in 
which  she  killed  no  bears  —  to  the  poor  monks  and 
missionaries  whom  her  presence  consoled,  and  among 
the  Indians,  whom  her  courage  astonished.*  As  for 
me,  having  been  unable  to  push  as  far  as  Edmonton,  I 
have  no  reason  for  discrediting  Calgary  by  comparison; 
on  the  contrary,  I  am  rather  inclined  to  make  up  to  it 
by  saying  that  it  already  has  15,000  inhabitants,  and 
can  offer,  only  a  short  distance  away,  pretty  walks 
along  the  hills  from  which  one  can  see  the  summits  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains;  and  finally,  that  it  is  not  its 
fault  if  I  arrived  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  behind 
time  and  in  the  rain. 

Besides,  I  found  a  cement  sidewalk  all  the  way  to 
the  Catholic  church,  situated  at  the  very  end  of  the 
town,  and  after  having  shown  a  letter  from  Archbishop 
Ireland  to  the  Superior  of  the  Oblates,  I  was  welcomed 
in  a  very  brotherly  manner.  In  conversing  with  these 
good  fathers,  in  realizing  the  heroism  required  by  the 
first  among  them  to  reach  this  country  even  before  the 
settlers,  sometimes  on  foot,  sometimes  in  a  cart,  who 
would  dare  complain  of  the  thirty  hours  that  separate 
Winnipeg  from  Calgary,  or  the  five  or  six  days  that 
divide  the  two  oceans^  What  must  it  have  been  be- 


*Cf.  Jean  Lionnet,  op  cit.,  and  the  article  of  the  Comtesse  de 
Saint-Pierre,  "  En  dehors  de  la  Civilisation "  that  appeared  in  Le 
Mois  for  July,  1908. 


176     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

fore  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway!  Yet  after  all, 
that  road  has  not  been  so  very  long  in  existence.  Of 
the  2,904  miles  to  be  built  between  Montreal  and  Van 
couver,  the  Government  had  completed  641  from  1875 
to  1881,  at  which  date  it  ceded  the  rest  to  the  Canadian 
Pacific,  who  laid  the  last  rail  on  the  seventh  of  No 
vember,  1885.  Contrary  to  what  is  usual,  a  bridge 
had  been  stretched  this  time  across  a  continent  from 
sea  to  sea. 

The  first  Oblates  came  from  France.  France  still 
sends  out  some,  but  as  exiles.  Canada,  like  other  free 
countries,  might  rejoice,  in  a  way,  at  our  sad  measures 
of  expulsion,  since,  on  account  of  them,  they  receive 
more  apostles  and  pioneers.  But  such  egotism  is  far 
from  its  Christian  thought,  and  would,  besides,  show  a 
lack  of  understanding,  since  it  is  to  be  feared  that  this 
momentary  affluence  precedes  the  drying  up  of  the 
source.  A  still  sadder  impression  was  made  on  me  by 
the  state  of  mind  of  a  young  missionary  who  boarded 
my  train  for  the  West  to  go  to  say  Mass  the  following 
day,  Sunday,  seventy-five  miles  from  there.  It  was 
only  six  months  since  he  had  been  forced  to  leave 
France,  which  he  did,  he  told  me,  with  the  greatest 
sorrow.  Already  he  would  not  wish  to  return,  and 
finds  himself  better  off  in  Canada.  Why?  What  a 
warning  for  our  country  is  this  facility  her  good  citizens 
find  in  separating  from  her !  In  talking  with  my  trav 
elling  companion,  I  was  forced  to  realize  that  if  he 
had  ceased  to  prefer  France,  it  was  not  only  on  account 
of  the  laws  of  expulsion,  but  because  of  the  numerous 


WESTERN   CANADA  177 

hindrances  every  one  meets  with  there  in  his  daily  life. 
Admitting  that  many  of  these  hindrances  are  but  the 
consequence  of  a  more  complex  civilization,  are  there 
not  some,  nevertheless,  that  we  v/ould  do  well  to 
suppress? 

Before  pushing  any  further  on  our  journey,  shall  I 
set  down  here  a  little  practical  advice  to  young  men 
who  are  thinking  of  going  out  as  colonists  to  western 
Canada*?  I  would,  considering  my  incompetence  on 
this  serious  question,  hesitate  to  do  so,  had  not  some 
conversations  with  well-informed  people  given  me  a 
clear  understanding  of  a  small  number  of  useful  facts. 
The  first  is  that  one  should  never  buy  land  except  on 
the  spot,  and  there  only  after  a  careful  trial  of  the 
country;  the  second,  that  farmers  have  a  good  chance 
of  succeeding,  and  others  very  little;  the  third,  that 
unless  one  comes  with  a  large  family,  it  is  unwise  to 
settle  too  far  from  a  centre  of  population,  unless  one 
wishes  to  die  of  loneliness;  and  the  fourth,  that  the 
openings  for  an  emigrant  are  greater  and  greater  the 
farther  West  he  goes,  the  Province  of  Quebec  offering 
less  free  land  or  new  and  remunerative  situations  than 
Ontario,  Ontario  fewer  than  Manitoba,  and  Manitoba 
than  Saskatchewan  or  Alberta.  To  those  who  do  not 
feel  cut  out  for  cattle-raising  or  farming  on  a  large 
scale,  but  who  are  rather  drawn  to  industry,  commerce, 
market  gardening,  fruit-raising,  or  forestry  and  its 
kindred  sciences,  I  should  advise  British  Columbia  or 
the  American  State  of  Washington,  toward  which  we 
shall  now  continue  on  our  way. 


178     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

I  do  not  wish  to  make  another  discovery  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  Any  one  going  over  them  in  detail, 
as  one  does  the  Alps,  would  no  doubt  find  many  won 
ders;  but  I  must  have  the  courage  of  my  convictions 
and  say  that  to  those  who  have  gone  from  France  to 
Italy  via  Switzerland  or  Savoie,  crossing  the  Rockies 
by  railroad  has  no  thrills  to  offer.  In  saying  so,  I  have 
no  intention  of  disparaging  the  interest  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  as  seen  from  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway. 
I  can  quite  understand  the  sentiments  of  my  fellow  pas 
sengers  and  the  communicative,  and  often  noisy,  joy 
of  the  crowd  in  the  observation  car  attached  to  the 
rear  end  of  the  train.  At  Banff,  where  I  stopped  for 
Sunday  (there  are  churches  and,  for  the  matter  of 
that,  habitations  only  about  every  250  miles), 
the  enthusiasm  of  my  travelling  companions  burst 
forth.  They  very  properly  admired  the  arena  of 
mountains  stretching  around  the  little  village  and  the 
company's  comfortable  hotel;  but  what  especially  car 
ried  them  away  is  the  snow  on  the  surrounding  sum 
mits  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  of  August.  For  my 
part,  I  was  not  so  delighted  to  find  it  underfoot  when 
I  went  to  say  Mass  the  next  morning. 

I  finally  got  accustomed  to  the  western  trains. 
There  is  one  that  runs  twice  a  week,  so  they  told  me, 
which  is  fast  and  always  on  time;  I  missed  it  at  Win 
nipeg  as  I  did  not  know  of  its  existence ;  I  missed  it  at 
Banff  because  it  goes  through  so  early  in  the  morning, 
and  I  contented  myself  with  the  daily  at  whatever  hour 
it  might  pass.  To  be  sure  there  is  some  question  of  a 


WESTERN   CANADA  179 

connection  for  Seattle  which  must  be  made  before 
reaching  the  Pacific,  but  if  the  train  misses  it  (and  we 
did  miss  it  by  five  or  six  hours),  it  seems  the  company 
carries  you  to  Vancouver  free.  After  all,  what  does 
it  matter?  The  train  is  not  uncomfortable;  at  night 
one  can  sleep  comfortably,  and  during  the  day  the 
scenery  is  magnificent  and  the  speed  is  not  too  fast 
to  prevent  one's  enjoying  it;  once  or  twice  even  beside 
the  stations,  we  got  out  to  pick  flowers  and  straw 
berries.  Another  amusement  was  to  watch  the  pas 
sengers  when  we  went  through  little  tunnels  or  under 
sheds  protecting  the  line  from  avalanches;  the  whole 
observation  car  burst  into  shouts  of  joy  and  laughter. 
There  was  hardly  any  one  who  was  not  there  for  the 
first  time  (it  was  so  far,  far,  far  from  everywhere),  and 
who  did  not,  therefore,  experience  new  sensations. 
And  Americans  are  so  expansive!  I  think  I  have  al 
ready  said  they  are  Southern  English.* 

The  highest  point  of  the  road  is  Stephen,  6,000  feet 
above  sea  level,  a  little  beyond  Lsggan  which  is  the 
station  for  the  Lakes  in  the  Clouds,  and  a  little  before 
Hector,  the  point  of  the  Great  Divide  of  the  waters 
between  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  Hudson  Bay:  now  we 
are  in  quite  another  world.  But  it  is  at  Glacier  House 

*This  passage  having  appeared  in  Le  Correspondent  brought  forth 
from  an  American  friend,  Charles  F.  Beach,  the  lawyer,  the  follow 
ing  criticism:  "You  call  us  Southern  English.  This  is  surely  more 
than  we  can  admit.  We  are  not  English;  we  are  not  Anglo-Saxons; 
we  are  Americans."  Mr.  Beach  is  right  as  far  as  the  question  of  race 
is  concerned;  nevertheless,  at  the  outset,  and  perhaps  forever,  the 
United  States  have  felt  to  the  depths  the  predominant  influence  of 
English  institutions,  political  ideas,  customs,  and  education. 


i8o     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

that  one  should  stop  to  see  the  finest  scenery;  the  sta 
tion  is  only  thirty  minutes  walk  from  the  Illecillewaet 
glacier,  the  largest  in  the  world  (of  course)  above 
which  tower  great  mountain  peaks  ten  thousand  feet 
high.  Is  it  the  better  to  enjoy  the  view  that  the  train, 
on  leaving  there,  amuses  itself  making  corkscrews, 
drawing  figure-eights,  and  coming  back  on  its  tracks  in 
almost  parallel  lines'?  The  engineers  yielded  to  no 
such  poetic  fantasy,  but  to  the  stern  necessities  of  the 
arduous  task  of  rejoining  two  sections.  The  line  was 
begun  from  both  ends  at  once,  and  owing  to  an  error, 
excusable  in  such  great  distances,  the  Pacific  branch 
arrived  at  the  point  of  junction  several  hundred  yards 
below  the  Atlantic  section.  During  the  night  we  trav 
erse  a  country  renowned  for  its  splendid  salmon-fishing 
and  excellent  bear  and  mountain-goat  hunting.  Fall 
ing  asleep  in  the  clouds  and  the  cold,  we  woke  under  a 
warm  blue  sky.  Yesterday  we  crossed  from  France 
to  Switzerland,  now  we  are  going  from  Constantine  to 
Biskra.  The  green  and  gurgling  waters  of  Thompson 
River  throw  in  a  note  of  joy,  which  is,  however,  stifled 
by  the  sombre  concert  of  arid  mountains  and  giant 
rocks  that  throw  their  crude  shadows  on  the  sand, 
strange  and  almost  horrible  of  aspect,  as  if  they  were 
miser  genii  who  have  gloated  through  the  long  cen 
turies  over  the  gold  of  the  Columbian  mines,  and  a 
little  farther  on  over  the  Klondike  and  its  deadly  treas 
ures.  They  have  the  gloomy  and  fatal  look  of  van 
quished  Titans.  Then,  little  by  little,  the  landscape 
grows  less  formidable  —  although  there  are  still  some 


WESTERN   CANADA  181 

terrible  gorges  —  and  the  Frazer,  the  principal  river  of 
these  parts,  flowing  from  the  north,  swallows  the 
pretty  little  Thompson  in  its  yellow  waters.  The 
land,  thus  far  deserted,  grows  once  more  inhabited; 
around  the  stations  are  grouped  Indian  villages  and, 
what  is  still  newer,  Asiatic  workmen's  cabins.  Hav 
ing  come  so  far  West,  we  had  reached  the  East.  Ex 
treme  East  is  West,  as  the  American  saying  has  it. 
There  are  Chinamen  with  pigtails,  and  even  Hindoos 
with  turbans.  These  interested  us  particularly. 
"Hundreds  of  them  are  employed  on  the  C.  P.  R.," 
said  an  affable  Japanese,  who  was  travelling  with  us. 
Some  one  naively  asked  him  whether  he  thought  they 
could  be  civilized,  and  his  smiling  reply,  "  They  al 
ready  think  they  are,"  brought  down  the  house.  "But 
can  they  be  Americanized"?  "  a  young  man  persisted. 
"I  don't  suppose  so,"  the  Japanese  replied;  "they  are 
too  artistic  and  too  childlike;  they  would  buy  flowers 
rather  than  bread." 

The  Japanese  pleased  me,  and  I  passed  the  rest  of 
the  day  in  his  company.  Allow  me  to  present  him: 
Mr.  Goro  Kaburagi,  who  lives  at  Vancouver  and  com 
bines  the  office  of  Methodist  pastor  with  the  functions 
of  director  of  a  newspaper  for  the  Japanese  in  Can 
ada.  I  quickly  gained  his  confidence,  and  it  is  no 
betrayal  of  it  to  repeat  here  what  he  thought  of  the 
dispute  between  the  Japanese  and  the  Americans  of  the 
United  States  or  Canada,  a  dispute  one  might  think 
settled  now  in  the  latter  country  to  judge  by  appear 
ances,  but  which  at  that  time  was  extremely  acute.  It 


182     AMERICA  OF  TO-MORROW 

was  in  fact,  but  shortly  before  the  anti-Japanese  dis 
turbances  of  Vancouver,  and  at  the  moment  at  which 
the  United  States  had  decided  to  send  the  Atlantic 
fleet  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  After  having  confessed  my 
American  sympathies,  I  offered  Mr.  Kaburagi  to  pub 
lish  whatever  he  told  me  in  favor  of  the  Japanese 
point  of  view. 

"In  the  eyes  of  Americans  your  crime  consists  in  de 
pressing  by  cheap  labor,  the  salaries  of  white  workmen, 
and  consequently  their  standard  of  life,  does  it  not4?" 
I  inquired. 

"That,"  he  replied,  "comes  to  the  same  thing  as  say 
ing  that  they  reproach  us  with  spending  too  little. 
But  why?  We  live  comfortably;  we  are  well  housed, 
well  dressed,  and  well  fed,  as  you  can  see  for  yourself 
if  you  will  visit  the  Japanese  quarters  at  Vancouver 
and  elsewhere.  Our  standard  of  life  is  as  comfortable 
as  the  American  one,  though  less  costly.  If  I  like  oat 
meal  and  rice,  why  should  I  be  obliged  to  eat  meat 
three  times  a  day6?  It  is  not  sound  doctrine  to  enjoin 
an  expensive  way  of  living  on  every  one ;  a  simple  and 
healthy  life  is  far  preferable.  If  we  spent  more,  we 
would  become  poor  and  have  to  be  provided  for  by 
the  Government.  Such  grievances  are  not  serious; 
what  they  really  object  to  in  us  is  our  race:  they  look 
upon  us  as  an  inferior  race,  and  that  we  won't  admit." 

"Without  in  the  least  looking  upon  you  as  an  in 
ferior  race,  which  would  be  difficult,  seeing  what  you 
have  accomplished  in  the  last  forty  years,"  I  replied, 
"the  Americans  may  still  see  in  you  a  race  funda- 


WESTERN   CANADA  183 

mentally  different  from  theirs  and  one  they  are  unable 
to  assimilate." 

"Why?" 

"I  am  not  undertaking  to  justify  their  idea;  but,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  they  have  it,  and  whatever  the  theory 
may  be  —  " 

"Yes,  Herbert  Spencer  and  his  famous  letter."* 

"Practically,  you  do  not  assimilate." 

"  What?  Why  we  learn  everything  Americans  can 
teach:  we  imitate  them  in  everything;  we  import,  not 
only  their  machinery  but  their  methods  of  work;  we 
speak  their  language;  we  attend  their  schools,  in  spite 
of  them  if  need  be ;  we  graduate  from  their  universities. 
We  love  the  Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  we  really  love 
it;  it  is  it  that  has  taught  us,  has  made  us  what  we  are, 
and  we  are  grateful  to  it.  Corea  now,  and  Manchuria 
suffice  for  our  emigration ;  we  come  to  Canada  and  the 
United  States  because  we  like  them.  Many  of  our 
leaders,  of  our  merchants,  and  political  men  were 


*This  letter,  which  made  a  great  stir,  was  addressed  to  Baron 
Kaneko  Kentaro.  In  it  Spencer  said,  not  without  brutality:  "To  your 
question  about  marriages  between  foreigners  and  Japanese,  and  which 
you  say  '  is  at  present  much  discussed  by  our  professors  and  politi 
cians,'  and  which  is  '  a  most  difficult  problem,'  my  reply  is  that,  log 
ically,  there  is  no  difficulty.  These  marriages  should  be  forbidden. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  sociology,  but  of  biology.  Proofs  are  not  lack 
ing,  taken  from  marriages  between  the  human  races  as  well  as  cross 
breeding  in  animals:  as  soon  as  the  varieties  to  be  brought  together 
diverge  somewhat,  the  result  is  inevitably  bad  in  the  long  run.  .  .  . 
Take  different  varieties  of  sheep:  if  two  quite  different  specimens  are 
crossed,  the  result,  above  all  in  the  second  generation,  is  bad ;  it  is  an 
incalculable  mixture  of  physical  traits  and  a  chaotic  constitution.  It  is 
the  same  with  human  beings.  .  .  .  Therefore,  by  all  means,  forbid 
the  marriage  of  Japanese  with  foreigners." 


184     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

trained  here.  How  many  have  filled  subordinate  and 
disagreeable  positions,  not  always  to  earn  their  living, 
but  the  better  to  learn !  I  know  a  Baron  who  worked 
on  the  C.  P.  R.  for  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day."  (I 
thought  of  the  quiet  and  active  little  Jap  who  had 
swept  our  Pullman  car  on  the  journey.)  "  Three  of  our 
present  deputies  have  worked  with  their  hands  in  Amer 
ica  for  seventy-five  cents  a  day.  I  myself  have  fol 
lowed  some  college  courses.  So  I  repeat,  sir,  we  are 
fond  of  America." 

"I  am  sincerely  glad  of  it,"  I  replied,  "but  to  tell 
you  the  truth,  I  am  afraid  you  do  not  love  it  as  it 
wishes  to  be  loved." 

"How  do  you  mean4?" 

"You  see  in  it  a  school,  not  a  fatherland;  you  don't 
come  to  stay,  but  only  to  acquire,  according  to  your 
station  in  life  either  ideas  or  money.  The  European 
emigrants  come  to  live  here,  and  almost  the  only  ones 
who  leave  again  are  those  who  did  not  know  how  to 
succeed  here.  You,  you  return  to  Japan  as  soon  as 
you  are  sufficiently  rich  or  educated." 

"  That  is  no  longer  true  at  all.  A  great  many  Jap 
anese  live  here.  Women  are  coming  now;  we  are 
founding  families,  we  are  having  children." 

"  Yes,  but  still  without  amalgamating  with  the  rest 
of  the  inhabitants.  You  live  in  separate  quarters;  all 
your  tradesmen,  and  if  you  are  employers,  all  your  em 
ployees  are  Japanese.  You  don't  become  American 
citizens." 

"Is  that  our  fault?    When  we  ask  for  this  title,  it 


WESTERN   CANADA  185 

is  refused  us,  on  the  fine  pretext  that,  according  to  the 
Constitution,  two  races  have  the  right  of  naturaliza 
tion:  the  white  and  the  black;  so  we,  the  yellow  race, 
have  not!  Mr.  Roosevelt,  in  his  message  of  Decem 
ber,  1906,  recommended  to  Congress  a  special  measure 
that  would  grant  naturalization  to  the  Japanese  com 
ing  to  the  United  States  with  the  intention  of  becoming 
American  citizens.  We  are  still  waiting  for  the  bill 
to  be  passed." 

"But  even  if  you  were  naturalized,  would  you  not 
still  be  Japanese4?  The  Germans  and  Italians  in  the 
United  States  cease  to  consider  themselves  subjects  of 
William  the  Second  or  Victor  Emmanuel,  but  would 
you  ever  cease  to  look  to  the  Mikado  as  your  real  sov 
ereign?  Would  you  really  belong  to  the  United 
States,  or  would  you  not  rather  be  merely  a  part  of  the 
New  Japan,  the  Japan  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and 
the  Pacific  Coast,  the  Shin  Nikon  of  which  your  writers 
and  politicians  are  constantly  speaking  and  dreaming? 
Hence,  is  it  not  natural  that  Americans  should  refuse 
to  see  as  strong  an  Empire  as  yours  establish  in  their 
midst  sort  of  half  colonies,  what  they  call  to-day, 
spheres  of  influence?  I  don't  blame  you  for  your 
fidelity  to  your  native  land,  your  memories  and  tradi 
tions  ;  but  you  must  acknowledge  that  this  fidelity  does 
not  harmonize  with  the  American  spirit,  which  is  to 
admit  no  one  to  permanent  residence  except  those  en 
amoured  of  their  ideal  and  capable  of  becoming  more 
attached  to  America  than  to  their  native  land." 


i86     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

"They  would  have  to  prove  first  that  their  ideal  is 
higher  than  ours." 

"Not  at  all!  It  is  sufficient  to  see  whether  they 
are  essentially  different  and  incompatible." 

"To  go  into  that  would  take  too  long,"  he  replied. 
"What  is  clear,  is  the  text  of  the  treaty  concluded  be 
tween  Japan  and  the  United  States  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  November,  1894:  'In  all  that  touches  the 
rights  of  residence  and  travelling.  .  .  .  the  citizens 
and  subjects  of  each  contracting  party  shall  enjoy  the 
same  privilege,  liberties,  and  rights  on  the  territory  of 
the  other,  and  shall  be  subjected,  in  these  respects,  to 
no  taxes  or  charges  beyond  those  imposed  on  the 
natives,  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation.' 
Now,  the  right  of  instruction  proceeds  from  the  right 
of  residence;  our  children,  therefore,  have  a  right  to  the 
same  schools  as  German  or  French  children.  But  we 
are  not  in  the  United  States.  Let  us  speak  of  Canada, 
and  especially  of  British  Columbia,  since  we  have  been 
travelling  there  since  this  morning.  Is  it  admissible 
that  Canada,  which  is  after  all,  an  English  colony, 
should  refuse  to  admit  Japanese  laborers,  now  that 
Japan  and  England  have  signed  a  treaty  of  alliance?" 

Mr.  Kaburagi  explained  to  me  that  at  that  time 
(the  middle  of  August,  1907,  the  nineteenth  to  be  ex 
act,  for  one  must  give  dates  here  in  America  where 
changes  occur  so  quickly)  the  Canadians  on  the  Pacific 
coast  were  much  more  irritated  against  Japanese  im 
migration  than  the  Americans  of  California  and 
Oregon.  Without  dropping  the  exterior  calm  typical 


WESTERN   CANADA  187 

of  his  race,  he  expressed  himself  forcibly  against 
the  claim  of  the  Canadians  to  be  sufficient  unto 
themselves. 

"Canada  for  Canadians!  is  their  cry:  I  wish  they 
could  be  taken  at  their  word  for  a  few  years,  and  we 
would  see  who  would  double-track  the  line  of  the  C. 
P.  R.,  who  would  build  their  new  railroads,  the  Grand 
Trunk  Pacific,  and  the  Canadian  Northern?  What 
would  Canada  be,  left  to  itself?  Not  only  are  the 
European  immigrants  necessary  to  it  in  the  eastern  and 
central  parts,  but  it  cannot  get  along  in  the  West  with 
out  the  Asiatic  immigrants  without  being  cut  short  in 
its  development,  and  so  outstripped  by  the  United 
States,  even  by  the  South  American  republics,  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  it  ever  to  catch  up  with 
its  rivals.  Canada  for  Canadians!  Just  count  the 
Canadians  at  Vancouver,  at  Victoria,  or  in  the  whole 
of  Columbia!" 

I  was  courteous  enough  to  let  the  discussion  drop, 
at  this  idea  of  the  West's  need  of  labor  hands.  This  is 
indeed  the  strongest  argument  in  favor  of  the  Asiatics, 
the  one  imposed  by  circumstances,  to  which  most  of 
the  great  corporations  and  important  enterprises  of 
Columbia,  Washington,  Oregon,  and  California  must 
bow  of  necessity,  albeit  with  regret.  The  whole  prob 
lem  is  there :  from  the  social,  moral,  and  psychological 
point  of  view,  Americans  would  drive  back  the  yellow 
immigrants;  from  the  material,  the  purely  economic 
point  of  view,  they  cannot  get  along  without  them. 
The  whole  problem?  No!  One  of  the  factors  that 


188     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

is  far  from  negligible,  is  Japan's  firm  intention  to  have 
her  subjects  respected  everywhere. 

Pleased  to  see  the  discussion  ended  to  his  advantage, 
Mr.  Kaburagi  enlarged  on  considerations  of  a  more  gen 
eral  nature  as  to  the  services  that  Japan  can  render 
America  as  client  and  middleman;  on  the  commercial 
disaster  that  would  be  entailed  by  an  unfortunate  war, 
and  the  slim  advantage  to  be  gained  by  victory;  and 
lastly  on  Japan's  mission  in  regard  to  Asia.  He  closed 
his  peroration  somewhat  sententiously :  "It  is  not  only 
a  question  of  a  community  of  material  interests.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  Japan  is  the  key  to  the 
Far  East,  the  pillar  that  supports  Asia,  and  without 
which  it  would  fall  back  into  chaos.  If  Japan  were 
weakened,  or  even  destroyed,  if  it  were  sunk  to  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean,  what  would  be  the  advantage  to 
the  United  States  and  Canada?  Who  would  control 
China?  Who  would  be  on  hand  to  tame  that  sleep 
ing  lion  when  it  awakens?" 

We  are  approaching  Vancouver,  and  the  landscape 
diverts  our  thoughts.  On  our  left,  toward  the  south, 
an  immense  dome  of  snow  stands  out  against  the  blue 
sky,  resembling  Mount  Blanc :  Mount  Tacoma,  the  peo 
ple  of  Tacoma  call  it;  Mount  Rainier,  those  of  Seattle, 
who  will  not  give  it  the  name  of  a  rival  city;  the 
Tacoma-Fuji  of  the  Japanese,  to  whom  it  recalls  the 
highest  mountain  of  their  islands,  Fuji-Yama.  To 
our  right  are  arms  of  the  sea  and  the  river,  difficult  to 
distinguish  from  each  other  so  cut  up  are  they  into  com 
plicated  fiords,  and  so  equally  deep  do  they  seem  under 


WESTERN   CANADA  189 

the  heavy- tonnage  boats  to  which  they  offer  either  a 
highway  or  harbors  sheltered  from  all  peril.  To  the 
left  the  track  skirts  the  unfenced  virgin  forest,  the 
reality  as  called  up  by  this  poetic  name,  and  no  longer 
only  the  mediocrity  of  stunted  trees,  clumps  of  heather, 
and  dried-up  marshes,  which  covers  the  lonely  plain 
to  the  north  of  the  Great  Lakes,  but  the  magnificence 
of  gigantic  trees,  tangled  bindweed,  and  old  trunks 
falling  to  dust  in  the  impenetrable  thickets.  In  spite 
of  the  latitude,  the  neighboring  waters  of  the  Kouro 
Shivo,  the  Gulf  Stream  of  the  other  hemisphere,  raise 
the  temperature  sufficiently  to  develop,  here,  under  the 
fiftieth  degree  north,  an  almost  tropical  vegetation. 
The  city  of  Vancouver  has  but  cut  a  few  paths  in  a 
corner  of  the  great  forest,  along  the  banks  of  a  natural 
lake,  and  it  has  a  park  finer  than  those  of  any  capital. 
I  saw  a  clump  of  pines  nearly  two  hundred  feet  tall 
and  each  measuring  25  or  30  feet  around.  They  tell 
me  that  on  the  mountain  sides  some  reach  a  height  of 
three  hundred  feet  and  a  circumference  of  a  hundred. 
The  greatness,  energy,  and  fearlessness  expressed  by 
nature,  animates  here,  equally  though  less  poetically, 
all  human  enterprises.  Docks,  ships,  sawmills,  all 
things,  seem  gigantic,  although  the  town  has  perhaps 
not  more  than  40,000  inhabitants, —  gigantic  and  un 
organized.  The  mind  wanders  amidst  this  confused 
mass  of  wharfs  and  tracks,  shops  and  villas;  one  is  at 
a  loss  to  know  whether  a  certain  column  of  smoke 
rises  from  a  factory  chimney  or  the  funnel  of  a  steamer 
leaving  for  China.  The  mixture  of  races  adds  to  the 


AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 


incoherence;  I  meet  the  most  dissimilar  types  in  the 
street.  In  the  tramway  cars  that  take  me  out  to  dis 
tant  suburbs  and  bring  me  back  by  a  different  way,  I 
hear  all  sorts  of  languages  spoken,  and  the  conductor 
informs  me  that  we  are  going  through  Chinatown,  and 
farther  on,  the  Japanese  quarter. 

Besides,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  visit 
both  of  them  later. 

Immediately  after  supper  Goro  Kaburagi  came  for 
me  to  the  modest  hotel  near  the  station  to  which  he  had 
directed  me,  and  which,  I  may  say  in  passing,  shows 
that  the  unpretentious  emigrant  can  live  cheaply 
enough,  for  to  my  great  surprise  they  charged  me  only 
a  dollar  and  a  half  for  supper,  a  room  and  breakfast. 
We  went  first  to  the  Chinese  quarter,  where  I  felt  very 
bewildered.  Everywhere  I  saw  silk  jackets  and  pig 
tails.  In  many  of  the  tiny  shops  we  entered  no  one 
understood  English,  and  without  my  friend  Goro 
(whether  he  spoke  Japanese  or  Chinese  to  them,  I 
could  not  say),  I  should  have  presented  a  rather  fool 
ish  figure.  This  short  visit  to  a  few  Asiatic  streets  in 
an  American  sea-port  town  may  have  interested  me, 
but  it  taught  me  little,  and  I  shall  wait  until  I  have 
seen  China  before  forming  an  opinion  of  Chinese 
customs. 

Nor  did  I  become,  in  one  evening,  more  competent  on 
the  subject  of  the  Japanese.  But  at  least,  with  them 
I  felt  less  disconcerted.  They  wore  our  costume  and 
spoke  English  everywhere.  As  I  was  introduced  by 
one  of  their  countrymen,  I  was  received  most  cordially. 


WESTERN   CANADA  191 

They  told  me  about  the  recent  visit  of  Prince  Fushimi 
and  sold  me  post  cards  portraying  the  enthusiastic  re 
ception  he  received  at  the  hands  of  his  compatriots. 
They  showed  me  their  shops,  their  homes,  and  their 
families,  and  in  spite  of  exoticism,  I  must  say  that 
these  Japanese  seem  to  me,  judging  from  the  outside, 
to  be  but  little  different  from  Canadians,  Americans,  or 
even  Frenchmen.  Kaburagi  was  right :  they  know  how 
to  adopt  the  manners  of  the  country  they  have  come  to; 
and  if  to  assimilate  a  people,  it  suffices  to  invest  them 
with  the  externals,  then  Canadians  and  Americans 
should  treat  the  Japanese  as  brothers. 

But  we  are  farther  than  ever  from  this  state  of  affairs 
in  this  month  of  August,  1907.  The  Vancouver  press 
is  full  of  threats  against  Orientals  in  general  and  the 
Japanese  in  particular;  it  calls  to  mind  the  fact  that 
in  a  single  day,  the  twenty-sixth  of  July,  twelve  hun 
dred  Japanese  landed  in  Columbia;  it  announces  in 
large  type  the  fantastic  news  of  still  more  numerous  ar 
rivals;  it  calls  on  the  interest,  the  pride  and  even  the 
honor  of  the  whites,  to  stop,  by  fair  means  or  foul, 
this  invasion  that  is  submerging  them,  ruining  them, 
and  degrading  the  country  of  their  choice;  it  even  calls 
them  to  arms,  and  begs  them  to  throw  into  the  sea  all 
these  baleful  yellow  men.  The  Japanese  consul 
whom  I  call  on  with  an  introduction  from  Kaburagi, 
assures  me  that  all  this  is  very  superficial,  that  matters 
will  arrange  themselves,  that  his  compatriots  like  Can 
ada,  and  that  the  Canadians,  as  a  people,  appreciate 


192     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

them.  He  declares  his  confidence  in  the  authorities  of 
Vancouver  and  Ottawa;  and  adds  that,  for  the  rest,  he 
has  requested  his  Government  to  abate  the  emigration. 
This  last  fact  shows  that  he  is  less  confident  than  he 
would  wish  to  appear;  and  circumstances  will  soon 
show  that  he  was  more  than  right  to  be  alarmed.  Less 
than  three  weeks  after  our  conversation,  on  September 
7  and  the  following  days,  after  a  meeting  of  the  anti- 
Japanese  and  anti-Corean  League,  Vancouver  became 
the  scene  of  violent  disturbances.  The  whites  attacked 
the  shops  and  even  the  persons  of  the  Chinese  and  Jap 
anese;  but  the  latter  defended  themselves  with  great 
courage,  making  weapons  of  everything;  they  threw 
themselves  on  the  mob,  which  they  drove  back  with 
cries  of  Banzai!  Nevertheless  they  had  two  men  seri 
ously  wounded  and  several  houses  sacked.* 

The  Anglo-Japanese  alliance  prevented  the  affair 
from  going  any  farther.  Japan  did  ample  justice  to 
the  efforts  of  the  Canadian  authorities  to  maintain  or 
der.  On  the  other  hand  the  Canadian  Minister,  Mr. 
King,  on  the  fourteenth  of  October,  opened  at  Van 
couver  an  investigation  at  the  expense  of  the  city. 
This  resulted  in  its  having  to  pay  the  Japanese  an  in 
demnity  of  $9,036.  A  second  investigation  was  begun 
in  November,  on  the  ways  and  means  of  Asiatic  im 
migration.  The  result  made  it  clear  that  the  Canadian 

*On  the  first  of  January,  1908,  a  fresh  struggle  took  place  at 
Vancouver  between  the  Japanese  and  the  whites;  but  the  latter,  inferior 
in  number,  were  worsted  and  lost  three  men.  The  riot  of  September, 
1907,  followed  a  week  after  the  movement  against  the  Hindoos  at 
Bellingham,  in  the  contiguous  frontier  State  of  Washington. 


WESTERN   CANADA  193 

and  Japanese  companies  had  violated  the  spirit  of  the 
treaty  of  January,  1907,  conferring  on  the  subjects  of 
both  countries  the  reciprocal  right  of  entrance,  travel 
ling,  and  residence.  The  abuse  was  shown  by  the  very 
figures.  The  Japanese  emigrants  having,  in  the  first 
ten  months  of  1907,  already  reached  the  number  8,125, 
of  whom  77  had  been  sent  back;  3,169  had  crossed  into 
the  United  States ;  and  4,429  had  remained  in  Canada ; 
whereas  there  had  been  received  into  the  country  only 
2,930  for  the  twelve  months  of  1906,  and  785  for 
1905.  Mr.  King  consequently  recommended  restrict 
ing  the  entrance  along  the  Pacific  coast,  admitting 
fewer  Japanese,  even  coming  straight  from  the  mother 
country,  and  refusing  admittance  to  any  arriving  from 
countries  not  subject  to  the  Empire  of  the  Rising  Sun. 
This  last  applied  to  those  Japanese  who  had  stayed  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  which  are  the  first  natural  step 
from  the  yellow  world  toward  America. 

The  Canadian  Minister  of  Posts,  Mr.  Rodolph 
Lemieux,  went  to  Tokio  about  the  end  of  November 
to  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  Japanese  Govern 
ment  as  to  the  best  means  of  avoiding  a  recurrence  of 
such  unfortunate  incidents.  He  obtained  the  promise 
that  the  Mikado,  while  asserting  the  maintenance  of 
his  rights  conformable  to  the  treaty,  would  consent  in 
the  future  not  to  enforce  them  to  the  utmost,  and  that 
in  consideration  of  the  special  condition  prevailing 
from  time  to  time  in  Canada,  he  would  restrict  the 
emigration  of  his  subjects  to  that  country.  A  letter 
written  December  23,  to  Mr.  Lemieux  by  Count 


194     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

Hayashi,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  confirming  this 
courteous  arrangement,  was  read  to  the  Parliament  of 
Ottawa  in  January,  1908,  and  since  then  Japan  has 
indeed  tried  to  limit  the  number  of  its  emigrants;  it 
has  reduced  the  number  of  its  emigration  companies 
and  forbidden  the  departure  for  Canada  of  contract 
laborers,  unless  they  are  called  by  the  Canadian  Gov 
ernment  itself.  A  decree  from  Ottawa  has,  besides, 
forbidden  the  landing  of  any  emigrant  not  arriving 
from  his  own  country  with  a  through  ticket,  which  ex 
cludes  Japanese  workmen  arriving  from  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  Hindoos  coming  by  way  of  Hong-Kong  or 
Shanghai. 

So  the  difficulties  are  solved"?  Yes,  for  a  time,  and 
between  the  Governments  only.  And  in  what  vague 
terms  at  that !  What  does  Japan  understand  by  "  not 
to  insist  on  the  complete  enjoyment  of  the  rights"? 
and  how  long  will  it  find  conditions  sufficiently  "  spe 
cial  "  to  conclude  that  it  must  "  restrict  the  emigration  " 
of  its  people4?  And  these  subjects,  if  they  continue 
to  be  driven  by  necessity,  for  how  long  will  they  incline 
to  the  wishes,  no  matter  how  sincere,  of  their  sovereign4? 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  Central  Government  at 
Ottawa  is  loyally  decided  to  enforce  a  proper  respect 
for  the  rights  of  the  Japanese  emigrants  admitted  to 
its  territory,  can  it  control  the  hostile  sentiments  of  a 
province  like  Columbia,  as  independent  as,  and  farther 
off  than,  all  the  others'?  Can  it  always  quell  the  anger 
of  the  white  laborers,  who  see  themselves,  or  at  least, 
believe  themselves,  ruined  by  the  competition  of  the 


WESTERN   CANADA  195 

yellow  race?  Did  not  members  of  the  Trade  and 
Labor  Unions  of  Canada,  met  together  in  a  congress  at 
Winnipeg  but  a  few  days  after  the  Vancouver  troubles, 
the  eighteenth  of  September,  1907,  demand  the  abroga 
tion  of  the  treaty  admitting  the  Japanese  to  Canada, 
and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  same  month,  did  they  not 
hear  Mr.  R.  L.  Borden,  the  leader  of  the  Columbian 
opposition,  declare  that  the  immediate  interests  of 
commerce  and  material  prosperity  itself  should  give 
way  before  this  consideration :  "  British  Columbia  must 
remain  a  province  of  Canada,  ruled  over  and  governed 
by  men  in  whose  veins  flows  the  blood  of  English 
ancestors ! " 

It  seems  to  me,  as  it  does  to  the  author  who  has  most 
studied  the  conflict  between  Americans  and  Japanese,* 
that  the  "  workmen  of  British  Columbia  will  not  lay 
down  arms,"  and  that,  if  the  Government  is  unable  to 
fulfil  their  wishes  new  disorders  will  soon  occur. 

The  danger,  though  real,  is  not  extremely  urgent, 
and  the  "yellow  peril "  may  fade  away  from  the  whole 
of  North  America,  as  the  negro  question  has  faded 
from  the  United  States,  by  a  more  rapid  increase  of 
whites  under  the  influence  of  immigration.  In  the 
newspaper  I  bought  to  read  on  the  train,  as  I  had  to  go 
back  on  my  tracks  for  some  distance,  I  read  that  the 
Dominion,  in  1908,  received  252,038  immigrants  of 

*Monsieur  Louis  Aubert  in  his  book,  "Americains  et  Japonais." 
Nowhere  are  the  great  questions  now  agitating  the  Northern  Pacific  set 
forth  with  greater  clearness  and  competency.  The  worst  that  can  be 
said  of  the  book  is  that  there  are  some  repetitions,  as  though  the 
different  chapters  had  first  served  as  separate  articles.  (Cf.  especially, 
for  Canada,  pp.  230-249.  Published  by  A.  Colin.) 


196     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

the  white  races,  and  official  statistics  tell  us  that  of 
this  number  120,779  came  from  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland;  52,652  from  Europe  and  Iceland;  and  74,607 
from  the  United  States.  The  figures  for  1903  were 
128,364;  for  1904,  130,330;  for  1905,  146,266;  and 
for  1907,  189,064.  All  this  shows  that,  for  a  number 
of  years,  the  few  thousand  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Hin 
doos  arriving  by  the  Pacific,  can  be  relegated  to  a  sec 
ond  place. 

The  same  newspaper  that  I  bought  at  random*  deals 
seriously  with  other  economic  questions.  The  first 
article  treats  of  the  "All  Red  Line"  (in  other  words 
"all  English"),  a  project  that  designs  to  give  quicker 
and  more  regular  communication  between  England  and 
Australia  by  way  of  Canada,  "to  bridge  over  the  vast 
distances  between  the  various  parts  of  the  British  Em 
pire."  Further  on  it  speaks  of  irrigation,  and  an 
nounces  that  the  Provincial  Government  of  Columbia 
has  engaged  Professor  Carpenter,  State  Engineer  of 
Colorado,  and  "chevalier  du  Merite  Agricole"  of 
France,  to  devise  a  system  of  irrigation  to  fertilize  the 
arid  provinces.  A  long  article  is  devoted  to  the  reports 
which  the  Dominion  Government  has  recently  issued 
on  the  different  fisheries  in  Canadian  waters,  especially 
on  the  danger  of  exterminating  the  salmon.  I  realize 
that  all  that  is  not  worth  a  few  vigorous  discussions  of 
patriotism,  the  dangers  of  clericalism,  the  last  resigna 
tion  of  Monsieur  Claretie,  and  the  crimes  and  good 
deeds  of  the  old  regime! 

*The  Vancouver  Daily  News  Advertiser,  Aug.  20,  1907. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  MOST  AMERICAN  OF  AMERICAN 
CITIES:  SEATTLE 

A  FORTUNATE  CORNER  OF  THE  GLOBE:  THE  STATE  OF 
WASHINGTON  ITS  CHIEF  CITY,  SEATTLE  MATE 
RIAL  AND  MORAL  PROSPERITY DISCONCERTING  AC 
TIVITY A  BUSY  BISHOP MOVING  OF  CHURCHES 

AND    MONUMENTS HOW    A    HASTILY    BUILT    CITY 

IS    MADE    REGULAR A    HILL    BY   THE    SEA AMER 
ICAN     PUSH  FRENCH     BUSINESS SOUNDNESS    OF 

THE    WEALTH    OF    SEATTLE A    PRIVILEGED    SITUA 
TION ONE   OF  THE   SOVEREIGNS  OF   THE    PACIFIC. 

A  FTER  having  passed  some  stations  with  ambitious 
-*•*•  names  such  as  Hastings  and  Westminster,  we 
changed  cars  at  Mission  Junction  and  crossed  the 
Frazer  to  enter  the  United  States  by  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railway,  which  extends  along  the  whole  coast 
as  far  as  San  Francisco.  Between  the  frontier  and 
Seattle  the  landscape  changes  many  times,  and  we  pass 
from  distant  views  of  snow-capped  peaks  to  the  fore 
ground  of  fiords  and  rivers,  or  long  stretches  cut  in  the 
virgin  forest,  but  everywhere  is  the  same  impression 
of  power,  freshness,  and  fecundity,  the  young  and  vig 
orous  attitude  of  Nature  fearlessly  awaiting  the  hand 

197 


198     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

of  man,  like  a  betrothed  who  is  aware  of  the  value  of 
her  fortune  and  the  worth  of  her  charms. 

Man,  in  our  days,  has  known  how  to  respond  to  the 
destinies  calling  him  to  this  fortunate  corner  of  the 
globe.  If  the  shortness  of  time  during  which  it  has 
been  exploited  be  taken  into  account,  I  believe  that 
nowhere  in  the  world  has  man  exerted  so  much  initia 
tive,  nor  attained  to  such  success.  Washington  became 
a  Territory  only  in  1860,  and  a  State  in  1889.  Be 
fore  1845  it  had  not  a  single  village,  and  its  population, 
which  in  1860  was  11,594;  in  1870  was  23,955;  m 
1880  was  75,116;  in  1890  was  349,390;  in  1900  was 
518,103,  and  is  now  estimated  at  a  million;  and 
former  President  Theodore  Roosevelt  has  been  able  to 
announce,  without  apparent  exaggeration,  that  before 
many  years  have  passed  it  would  take  its  place  imme 
diately  after  that  of  the  States  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania. 

Its  chief  city,  Seattle,  has  been  in  existence  only 
thirty  years;  it  had  5,333  inhabitants  in  1880;  42,870 
in  1890;  80,671  in  1900;  to-day  it  has  between 
250,000  and  300,000,  and  rivals  San  Francisco  itself 
in  the  commercial  dominion  over  the  American  coast 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  city,  but  just  risen  from 
the  earth,  and  which  is  not  as  yet  shown  on  all  maps, 
is  reached  by  seven  main  railway  lines  bringing  in  all 
the  riches  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  num 
berless  navigation  companies  which,  from  Australia  and 
Alaska,  Asia,  and  even  Europe,  send  their  merchant 
vessels  to  this  harbor  capable  of  sheltering  all  the  navies 


SEATTLE  199 

of  the  world.  In  1906,  869  large  vessels  of  1,442,405 
tons  entered  the  port  of  Seattle,  and  849  ships  of 
1,388,950  tons  departed  from  it;  1,613,981  passengers 
either  came  or  went;  $32,000,000  worth  of  merchan 
dise  was  imported,  and  $49,000,000  exported.  Many 
vessels  of  the  merchant  marine  appointed  to  the  spe 
cial  service  of  Seattle,  and  which,  like  the  Minnesota, 
are  of  some  23,000  tons  and  measure  830  feet  over  all, 
never  make  a  trip  without  being  filled  to  the  limit  of 
their  capacity.  According  to  statistics  made  up  at  the 
end  of  1906,  the  total  amount  passed  through  the 
clearing  house  during  the  year  reached  the  sum  of  five 
hundred  million  dollars.  During  this  same  year  1906 
the  sales  of  real  estate  amounted  to  $98,282,502,  and 
new  buildings  were  put  up  to  the  value  of  $11,920,- 
488.*  The  municipality  had  expended  $579,232  for 
seventy-five  miles  of  streets  and  sidewalks;  $499,005 
for  nine  miles  of  paving;  $22,869  for  a  sewer  system; 
and  $218,317  for  water-mains;  it  kept  up  twenty 
parks;  made  its  own  electric  light,  amounting  to 

*This  figure  which  was  surpassed  in  1907,  was  greater  still  in  1908, 
amounting  to  $13,770,000  in  spite  of  the  panic  of  that  year.  By  way 
of  comparison,  taking  Montreal  as  an  example,  certainly  a  very  pros 
perous  city  and,  with  its  suburbs,  twice  as  populous:  in  this  same  year 
1908  the  building  enterprises  there  reached  only  $5,062,326  or  two  and 
a  half  times  less  than  Seattle.  To  keep  the  figures  quoted  here  up  to 
date,  they  would  have  to  be  increased  at  least  10  per  cent  a  year,  and 
on  some  points,  more.  The  buildings  just  mentioned  as  worth  nearly 
$14,000,000  in  1908,  came  only  to  $5,000,000  in  1898.  In  the  same 
interval  the  exports  grew  from  $4,021,000  to  $21,390,000,  and  the  im 
ports  from  $1,170,000  to  $17,384,000;  the  sales  of  real  estate  rose  from 
$8,500,000  to  $70,000,000.  In  1900  property  was  assessed  at  not  quite 
$50,000,000,  in  1908  at  over  $175,000,000.  These  figures  suffice  to 
indicate  the  growth  of  Seattle. 


200     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

$650,000  worth,  and  furnished  drinking  water  from 
a  plant  that  had  cost  $4,250,000. 

Far  from  neglecting  moral  welfare  for  the  material, 
Seattle  possessed  39  public  schools,  amounting  to 
$2,217,000  worth  of  property,  and  had  expended 
$375,000  for  a  library  containing  90,^000  volumes; 
$150,000  annually  was  devoted  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  University,  already  attended  by  1,194  students, 
and  to  which  the  city  had  donated  30  acres  in  the 
business  quarter  of  the  town  and  100,000  in  the  coun 
try,  besides  alloting  it  the  income  on  $600,000  to  con 
tinue  its  building  operations. 

This  long  series  of  figures  (for  which  I  trust  I  shall 
be  pardoned),  proves,  and  would  prove  still  better  if  it 
were  complete,  that  this  city,  born  of  yesterday,  has 
expended,  without  stint,  hundreds  of  millions  for  the 
intellectual  progress  of  its  citizens,  as  well  as  for  their 
well-being.  Nothing  is  lacking  to  the  effect  of  our 
demonstration  but  a  glimpse  at  the  lavish  private  gifts, 
side  by  side  with  the  public  contributions :  already  the 
former  had  sufficed  to  build  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  churches.  In  1909  a  director  of  the  Savings 
Bank  founded  at  his  own  expense  a  Carmelite  con 
vent,  attracted  by  the  beautiful  thought  of  establishing 
the  contemplative  ideal  in  this,  perhaps,  the  busiest  city 
in  the  world. 

Charity  has  shared  in  building  many  large  hospitals, 
and  although  most  of  the  patients  pay  their  way,  char 
ity  has  also  had  to  take  charge  of  the  indigent,  who  are 
not  entirely  lacking  at  Seattle.  One  meets  there  some 


SEATTLE  201 

poor  waifs  and  strays  unable  to  earn  a  living  on  account 
of  weakness,  illness,  extreme  youth  or  old  age,  or  per 
haps  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  English;  and  the  chaplain 
of  the  hospital  told  me  the  touching  story  of  some 
Breton  sailors  whose  boat  departed  before  they  were 
well  enough  to  ship  again.  One  scarcity  is  orphans; 
they  told  me  of  an  asylum  which  I  was  unable  to  visit, 
built  in  the  suburbs  at  great  expense  and  for  which 
they  had  so  far  been  able  to  find  only  one  recruit ! 

This  is  natural  enough  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there 
are  still  very  few  families  in  Seattle;  one  meets  with 
infinitely  more  men  than  women;  young  girls  or  old 
maids  wishing  to  marry  would  have  a  better  chance  of 
finding  a  husband  there  than  any  other  place  in  the 
world.  They  might  even  find  several  in  succession ;  for 
the  laws  of  Washington,  so  wise  in  other  respects,  grant 
divorces  with  such  facility  that  it  may  almost  be  said 
that  they  favor  it.  It  is,  I  believe,  one  of  the  rare  coun 
tries  where,  to  obtain  a  divorce,  it  is  sufficient  to  have 
the  consent  of  both  parties.  In  this  there  is  a  principle 
of  moral  ruin  which,  if  it  be  not  corrected,  will  in  the 
long  run,  compromise  as  well  the  material  future  of  the 
State.  The  surprising  degree  of  activity  and  prosperity 
which  has  reigned  so  far  at  Seattle  strikes  the  traveller 
from  the  moment  of  his  arrival,  whether  he  land,  past 
the  forests  of  masts,  on  the  wharfs  crowded  with  mer 
chandise,  or  enter  the  town,  as  I  did,  by  the  great 
marble  station  which  is  the  terminus  for  most  of  the 
railways.  On  emerging  from  this  foolishly  luxuriant 
palace,  I  asked  my  way  to  the  central  post  office  where 


202     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

I  was  anxious  to  get  my  mail,  which  I  had  not  received 
since  leaving  St.  Paul.  In  spite  of  the  distance,  I  was 
able  to  reach  my  destination  in  a  few  minutes  by  board 
ing  one  of  the  tramway  cars  which  followed  each  other 
in  such  close  succession  that  those  going  in  the  opposite 
direction  seemed  to  pass  almost  continuously,  while  at 
each  block  others  streamed  by  us  at  a  right  angle. 
Caught  up  into  this  maelstrom  I  had  time  to  catch  only 
glimpses  of  the  extraordinary  but  inharmonious 
avenue  along  which  we  were  running.  The  buildings, 
almost  all  alike  in  their  richness  of  material,  differed 
really  too  greatly  from  each  other  in  their  proportions, 
here  piling  up  twenty  stories,  there  forming  only  a  hall, 
or  stopping  at  a  second  row  of  colossal  windows ;  some 
times  surmounted  by  graceful  towers,  or  ending  in  a 
terrace  with  slender  columns;  but  at  others  stopping 
short  with  a  flat  architrave  supporting  the  name  of  a 
hotel  in  letters  fifteen  feet  high.  At  the  post  office,  be 
fore  each  of  the  twenty- four  windows  at  which  the  mail 
was  distributed,  I  found  a  long  line  of  applicants  await 
ing  their  turn.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  seen  such  a 
thing  anywhere.  It  is  here  that  the  number  of  new  ar 
rivals  is  such,  that  no  matter  how  many  new  houses  are 
erected,  there  are  never  sufficient  to  enable  every  one  to 
engage  his  rooms  ahead ;  so  that  the  current  saying  that 
there  are  always  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  of  Se 
attle  living  in  their  trunks,  is  not  far  from  the  truth. 
When  the  building  of  a  new  apartment  house  is  an 
nounced,  so  many  tenants  present  themselves  that,  be 
fore  the  foundations  are  laid  and  the  scaffolding  set 


SEATTLE  203 

up,  all  the  rooms  are  already  rented.  As,  after,  erecting 
the  steel  framework,  the  top  stories  are  finished  first,  it 
is  not  unusual  to  see  these  inhabited  (they  are  reached 
of  course,  by  elevators)  before  a  brick  or  a  stone  of  the 
lower  stories  is  laid.  I  will  not  say  that  this  feverish 
haste,  as  well  for  buildings  as  for  means  of  trans 
port,  has  not  something  to  do  with  the  many  broken 
arms  and  legs  that  are  brought  to  the  hospitals.  The 
chaplain  told  me  that  they  treat  many  more  accidents 
than  illnesses. 

After  allowing  myself  the  pleasure  of  half  an  hour's 
leisurely  walk  in  the  midst  of  the  busy  and  silent  crowd, 
I  telephoned  to  the  Bishop,  who,  I  knew  had  been  writ 
ten  to  about  me.  I  had,  indeed,  sent  him  a  telegram, 
but  it  had  been  stopped  without  my  knowing  it  by  the 
unbearable  strike  of  the  telegraph  operators  (the  tele 
graph  lines  all  belong  to  private  companies).  The 
Bishop  told  me  he  would  expect  me  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour;  and  two  tramways  took  me,  in  this  short  space  of 
time,  to  the  little  villa  he  occupied,  beyond  the  business 
quarter,  on  Ferry  Avenue,  a  street  pleasantly  bordered 
with  trees  and  lawns  and  as  quiet  as  the  quietest  at 
Versailles  or  Fontainebleau.  The  tramway  that  runs 
out  there  scales  an  incredibly  steep  hill  that  in  Europe 
we  would  scarcely  dare  to  suggest  for  a  cable  railway. 

After  the  most  charming  words  of  welcome  and  a 
warm  eulogy  of  Father  McCorry,  the  dear  Paulist  of 
Chicago  who  had  brought  us  together,  Bishop  O'Dea 
kindly  invited  me  to  take  all  my  meals  with  him,  and 
apologized  for  his  inability  to  offer  me  more  complete 


204     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

hospitality,  as  he  was  but  camping  out  in  a  rented 
house  scarcely  large  enough  for  him  and  his  three 
vicars;  for  he  is  rector  of  his  own  cathedral.  His  own 
residence  is  just  being  finished,  like  everything  in  this 
flagrantly  new  country,  the  cathedral  included.  The 
latter  is  admirably  situated  at  the  summit  of  the  town 
overlooking  a  broad  and  lively  landscape;  its  simple 
lines  and  elegant  proportions,  and  its  two  tall  towers, 
can  be  seen  from  all  parts  of  the  town,  and  it  is  un 
doubtedly  the  monument  the  most  in  evidence  in 
Seattle,  and  does  honor  to  its  architects,  Messrs.  Hein- 
zie  and  La  Farge,  the  latter  of  French  origin.  The 
altars  and  the  stations  of  the  cross  also  come  from 
France;  they  are  but  half  unpacked  and  the  nave  is 
blocked  with  cases,  of  which  it  required  not  a  few  to 
bring  all  these  sacred  furnishings  from  the  rue  St.  Sul- 
pice  to  Puget  Sound  via  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  the  Indian 
Ocean,  and  the  Pacific. 

Bishop  O'Dea  cannot  complain  of  his  diocese  where 
churches  are  springing  up  like  wheat :  "  I  had  three  at 
Seattle  when  I  came  here  four  years  ago;  now,  I  have 
fourteen."  But  he  thinks  they  are  a  bit  overworked, 
all  the  same.  "  I  spent  this  afternoon  with  representa 
tives  of  the  railroad  discussing  the  removal  of  one  of 
our  churches.  They  declare  that  we  always  take  the 
best  sites !  But  they  set  it  all  up  at  their  expense,  give 
us  three  acres  for  one,  and  are  not  stingy  about  indem 
nities.  Recently  they  moved  the  cemetery  with  a 
church."  This  transplanting  astonishes  no  one  any 
longer.  At  Spokane  in  the  same  State  of  Washington, 


SEATTLE  205 

Gonzaga  College,  a  three-story  brick  building  measur 
ing  a  hundred  feet  by  fifty  feet  deep,  was  moved  to 
four  blocks  away,  and  they  took  advantage  of  the  op 
portunity  to  turn  the  northern  fagade  toward  the  south. 
In  order  to  simplify  the  growth  of  the  city  it  has  be 
come  a  common  custom  at  Seattle  to  send  old  houses 
out  to  the  suburbs  to  make  room  for  the  new  ones.  But 
it  is  not  only  these  material  temples  that  are  moved 
from  place  to  place.  The  diocesan  see  has  been  three 
times  removed.  The  first  bishop,  Mgr.  Blanchet,  who 
was  consecrated  in  1846,  for  the  few  Indian  Catholics 
of  this  region,  settled  in  the  midst  of  their  largest  group 
at  Wallawalla;  he  moved  to  Nesqually  in  1850.  His 
first  successor,  Bishop  Junger,  bore  the  title  of  Bishop 
of  Nesqually,  as  well  as  Bishop  O'Dea  who  was  conse 
crated  in  1874.  The  latter  lived  at  first  at  Vancouver, 
Washington;  for  Port  Nesqually,  where  formerly  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company's  ships  landed,  has  now  gone  out 
of  existence.  "  You  would  not  find  a  hen  there,"  said 
the  Bishop.  After  seven  years,  tired  of  bearing  a  title 
become  so  soon  in  partibus,  he  asked  of  Rome  the  per 
mission  to  live  in  Seattle  and  to  found  his  see  there. 
"  Establish  yourself  there,"  was  the  reply  he  received, 
"  and  when  your  cathedral  is  built  we  will  change  the 
name  of  the  diocese."  To  build  a  cathedral  in  America 
is  not  so  slow  an  affair  as  to  change  the  names  on  a 
diploma  in  Europe;  and  the  cathedral  was  finished  too 
soon, —  in  two  years.  It  is  not  the  members  of  the 
committee  of  initiative  who  would  hold  it  back;  they 
are  all  business  men  and  like  prompt  and  clear  deci- 


206     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

sions.  "  They  help  quickly  and  actively  in  the  begin 
ning,"  says  Bishop  O'Dea,  "  but  later,  it  is  almost  im 
possible  to  get  a  quorum;  some  are  in  Chicago,  others 
in  Europe,  and  they  all  go  to  New  York  three  or  four 
times  a  year." 

The  Bishop  took  me  to  see  his  chancellor,  who  is 
chaplain  of  the  hospital,  and  in  whose  room  diocesan 
matters  are  informally  discussed.  I  could  not  have 
fallen  into  better  hands.  Father  X,  who  forbade  my 
mentioning  his  name  (An  American !  though  as  a  mat 
ter  of  fact,  he  was  bom  in  Belgium),  is  the  most  popu 
lar  man  in  town.  His  arrival  at  Seattle  dates  from  the 
beginning,  and  his  memory  goes  back  to  the  time  when 
"  there  was  not  anything."  Every  one  has  given  over 
the  sick  into  his  care,  every  one  loves  his  goodness,  his 
modesty,  and  his  shrewd  smile.  He  loved  to  surprise 
me,  and  showed  me  the  novelties  of  Seattle,  adding 
each  time,  "  Nothing  is  more  simple." 

He  selected  a  room  for  me  at  the  Hotel  Stander, 
"  supposing  I  would  prefer  one  already  built."  Nev 
ertheless,  he  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  they 
were  cutting  away  part  of  the  ground  floor  to  make 
an  arcade  which  was  to  serve  as  sidewalk,  as  on  the 
Rue  de  Rivoli.  Last  year's  sidewalks  were  to  be  thrown 
into  the  roadway  to  enlarge  it  to  that  extent.  It  is 
more  usual  to  cut  off  several  yards  from  top  to  bottom 
of  the  faqade.  Building  was  undertaken  too  quickly 
at  first,  without  enough  consideration  for  the  whole, 
as  no  one  could  foresee  such  rapid  growth.  One  of  the 
principal  necessities  now  before  the  City  Council  is  the 


SEATTLE  207 

widening  and  levelling  of  the  streets.  In  order  to 
widen  them,  they  either  cut  a  slice  off  the  front  of  the 
abutting  buildings  or,  if  there  is  room  behind,  they 
are  moved  back  as  a  whole.  To  level  the  roads,  to  do 
away  with  the  hill,  they  dig  in  front  of  the  founda 
tions,  and  as  the  street  itself  is  cut  away  they  add 
below  one  or  two  stories  as  the  case  may  be.  The  pro 
prietor  received  only  one  dollar  legal  indemnity,  but 
he  comes  out  even  by  seeing  his  house  enlarged;  be 
sides  which,  he  can  sell  the  earth  that  has  been  removed 
to  those  who  wish  to  gain  a  few  yards  on  the  seashore. 
A  certain  house  was  left  by  the  levelling  process,  sus 
pended  forty  feet  in  mid-air  on  piles  which  held  it 
until  new  foundations  had  been  dug  and  a  new  ground 
floor  and  first  floor  built  for  it.  "  You  see  how  sim 
ple  it  is,  don't  you?  " 

But  the  climax  of  simplicity  is  the  following  opera 
tion,  of  which  I  witnessed  the  last  phases.  Mr. 
Dennys,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Seattle,  had  bought,  at 
the  outset,  a  whole  hill,  which  was  soon  surrounded  by 
buildings.  He  had  transformed  it  into  charming  gar 
dens  and  had  built  at  the  summit  a  superb  hotel,  the 
Washington,  where  Mr.  Roosevelt  stopped  when  he 
went  to  Seattle.  It  was  undoubtedly  the  best  there 
was  in  the  city.  One  day  Dennys,  or  rather  his  suc 
cessor,  Mr.  Moore,  reflected  that  he  was  not  getting  any 
return  from  his  hill.  Instead  of  wasting  the  entire  hill 
for  one  hotel,  he  decided  that  it  would  be  far  more 
profitable  to  clear  away  the  whole  thing.  The  base 
being  much  broader  than  the  summit,  he  could  build 


208     AMERICA   OF  TO-MORROW 

a  great  many  buildings:  four  blocks  of  theatres  and 
new  hotels.  As  to  the  earth  that  lay  between  these 
two  extremes,  he  would  carry  it  to  the  shore,  where  he 
would  buy  a  cheap  bit  of  land,  fill  it  up,  and  so  have 
some  fine  and  spacious  building  lots. 

What  objection  could  be  made  to  this  plan?  The 
work?  The  expense?  The  time?  At  Seattle  no  one 
takes  such  obstacles  into  account.  The  first  step  was 
to  demolish  the  Hotel  Washington.  In  a  single  night 
an  opportune  fire  did  the  job  with  admirable  rapidity. 
The  hill  would  seem  more  difficult  to  destroy,  but  it 
did  not  prove  much  harder.  Mr.  Moore,  who  was  un 
doubtedly  a  travelled  man,  remembered  how  the 
Creator  had  carried  out,  on  His  own  account,  the 
erosion  of  His  mountains.  It  was  but  a  question  of 
hydraulic  pressure.  Powerful  artificial  streams  were 
set  to  fulfill  the  functions  of  torrents,  avalanches, 
and  glaciers  in  disaggregating  the  soil  and  baring 
the  rocks  condemned  forthwith  to  destruction;  cav 
erns  were  thus  formed,  whose  walls  were  easily  knocked 
in,  a  little  canal  was  dug  to  carry  the  debris  quickly 
and  easily  to  the  spot  they  were  to  fill  in;  if  some 
blocks  were  too  big  or  too  hard,  dynamite  quickly 
solved  the  question.  In  a  word  it  was  a  recurrence  of 
the  inundation  that  almost  destroyed  St.  Gervais  when 
the  dykes  broke,  but  in  this  case  the  catastrophe  was 
held  in  check.  What  could  be  simpler?  —  as  my  guide 
always  repeated  smilingly.  It  was  one  evening  after 
dinner  that  he  took  me  to  see  this  strange  work.  Only 
a  few  bits  remained  to  be  cut  away,  and  a  workman, 


SEATTLE  209 

directing  the  stream  of  water,  washed  into  the  fiord,  all 
by  himself,  what  remained  of  the  hill.  On  the  way 
home,  I  saw  the  two  fine  hotels  that  the  ingenious 
Moore  had  already  built  on  a  part  of  the  levelled 
ground,  a  hundred  feet  below  the  Washington. 

American  "  push  "  has  often  been  spoken  of,  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  another  spot  in  the  United  States 
where  it  bursts  forth  as  it  does  at  Seattle.  And  this 
to  such  a  degree  that  in  spite  of  the  manifest  richness 
of  the  buildings,  the  shops,  churches,  and  schools,  in  all 
domains  of  public  and  private  life,  one  wonders  if  one 
is  not  the  victim  of  a  mirage,  and  if  there  is  not  a  good 
bit  of  bluff  concealed  under  this  brilliant  appearance; 
but  a  detailed  examination  only  confirms  the  first  im 
pression,  and  one  is  constrained  to  acknowledge  that 
the  real  prosperity  is  in  no  way  inferior  to  that  which 
is  superficially  evident. 

The  wonderful  development  and  projects  of  the 
banks  furnish  an  undeniable  proof  of  this.  My  igno 
rance  in  such  matters  is  counterbalanced  by  the  excep 
tional  competency  and  indefatigable  willingness  of  Mr. 
Auzias-Turenne,  one  of  my  compatriots,  who  has  lived 
for  a  long  time  in  the  Northwest,  and  is  vice-president 
of  one  of  the  foremost  financial  establishments  of  Seat 
tle.  The  city,  in  1906,  had  seventeen  banks,  all  paying 
concerns  of  the  highest  standing,  having  deposits  aggre 
gating  seventy  million  dollars,  and  whose  transactions, 
none  of  them  speculative,  amount  for  the  one  year  to 
$486,220,021. 

That  such  establishments  are  successful  in  the  whole 


210      AMERICA  OF  TO-MORROW 

State  of  Washington,  is  shown  by  their  number  alone; 
there  were  221  in  1905;  265  in  1906;  in  1908,  in  spite 
of  the  panic,  they  numbered  to  272  and  received 
twenty-five  million  in  deposits,  or  one-seventeenth  of 
the  total  for  the  United  States  ($331,562,680).  In 
new  countries  especially,  the  prosperity  of  banks  is 
closely  connected  with  affairs  in  general:  agriculture, 
trade,  the  development  of  forests  and  mines,  commerce, 
commercial  navigation,— 7  nothing  can  get  along  with 
out  the  banks;  and,  for  their  part  no  matter  how  clever 
their  directors,  they  cannot  succeed  permanently  unless 
they  inspire  confidence  by  the  honesty  of  their  methods 
and  the  solid  foundation  of  wealth  on  which  they  are 
established. 

And  it  is  indeed  a  solid  foundation  of  wealth  that 
is  being  developed  by  Seattle,  a  wealth  that  rests  on 
a  remarkably  favorable  situation  and  on  natural  re 
sources  of  which  one  can  see  no  end  in  the  future. 

The  geographical  position  of  Seattle  makes  it  not 
only  the  centre  of  the  young  State  of  Washington,  but 
the  natural  meeting  point  between  the  whole  North 
west  of  the  United  States, —  that  rich  reserve  of  mines, 
pastures,  forests,  and  fisheries,  which  has  only  just  been 
opened  up, —  and  the  over-populated  regions  of  the 
Far  East,  where  five  or  six  hundred  million  producers 
and  consumers  stand  ready  to  make  commercial  ex 
changes.  Even  when  the  Panama  Canal  will  have  been 
completed,  the  trade  between  America  and  Japan,  Si 
beria,  China,  and  Indo-China  will  be  advantageously 
carried  on  by  way  of  Puget  Sound.  That  fiord  is,  in- 


SEATTLE  211 

deed,  very  close  to  Asia,  and  offers,  over  a  surface  of 
more  than  six  hundred  miles,  all  the  advantages  of  an 
inland  sea,  while,  thanks  to  its  relative  narrowness  and 
many  windings,  it  is  protected  from  all  storms.  It  is  on 
a  wide  bay  of  this  marine  river  that  Seattle  is  extending 
to  the  west  the  overgrowing  line  of  docks  and  wharves. 
Behind,  and  parallel  to  them,  run  the  busy  streets  of 
the  business  quarter.  Farther  along  to  the  east  on  the 
hillside  or  on  the  banks  of  transparent  lakes,*  resi 
dences  surrounded  by  lawns  and  flowers  are  being  built 
along  tree-shaded  avenues;  and  just  as  the  sea  offers 
an  interminable  shore  line  for  the  spread  of  wharves, 
so,  inland,  lies  boundless  land,  as  yet  unoccupied, 
awaiting  the  development  of  suburbs  and  parks, 

But  the  favors  lavished  by  Nature  do  not  stop  here. 
Together  with  commercial  wealth,  the  waters  of  the 
fiords,  warmed  by  contact  with  the  ocean  current  of 
Kouro  Shivo,  give  Seattle  a  soft  and  temperate  climate: 
Nor  does  the  earth  restrict  herself  to  useful  gifts. 
When  the  wearied  inhabitants  of  Seattle  retire  in  the 
evening  to  their  hillside  villas,  their  charmed  eyes  see 
the  sun  set  over  glancing  waters  and  verdant  isles, 
while  at  all  the  other  points  of  the  compass,  to  the 
north,  east  and  south,  mountains,  more  than  ten  or 
twelve  thousand  feet  high,  outline  their  giant  profiles 
in  deep  shadow,  or  tower  with  glistening  domes  of 
snow  above  the  darkening  landscape. 


*These  fresh  water  lakes  are  three  in  number:  Union  Lake,  in  the 
midst  of  the  city;  Green  Lake,  to  the  north;  and  Lake  Washington,  to 
the  east. 


212      AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

In  very  truth,  it  requires  an  effort  not  to  let  oneself 
be  won  over  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  happy  citizens  of 
Seattle,  and  one  will  gladly  grant  them  that,  the  world 
having  always  seen  its  most  magnificent  cities  grow  up 
on  the  shore  of  an  inland  sea, —  above  all  one  that  is 
joined  to  an  ocean  and  is  surrounded  by  fertile  ground, 
• —  one  will  grant  them  that  there  seems  no  limit  to  the 
future  greatness  of  this  metropolis  of  the  Northwest, 
the  latest  born  and  most  active  of  all  the  cities  of 
America,  the  young  and  beautiful  sovereign  beginning 
to  stretch  out  her  sceptre  over  a  good  half  of  the  great 
est  of  oceans,  and  at  whose  feet  already  lie  heaped  the 
tributes  of  New  Zealand  and  Alaska,  Australia  and 
Japan,  the  East  Indies  and  Siberia,  South  Africa  and 
the  Chinese  Empire.  Christopher  Columbus,  like  many 
before  and  since,  risked  his  life  to  find  a  way  to  the 
treasures  of  the  Orient.  Many  passages  give  access 
there  to-day, —  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway,  the  Suez 
Canal,  and  soon  the  Panama  Canal.  The  western 
coast  of  the  United  States  already  had  one,  the  Golden 
Gate  of  San  Francisco;  it  now  has  another,  of  which 
the  whole  world  must  take  account. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  NORTHWEST.     TACOMA.     PUGET 
SOUND 

THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    NORTHWEST AUDACIOUS 

RAILROADS PROSPERITY  OF   THE   YOUNG  STATE  OF 

WASHINGTON  THE  CITY  OF  TACOMA  :  ORIGINS,  DE 
VELOPMENT,  DESCRIPTION  A  MISSIONARY  OF  PRE 
HISTORIC  TIMES ALPINESQUE  HORIZONS AN 

INTERVIEW  a  r  Americaine  —  EXCURSION  ON  PUGET 

SOUND THE    BREMERTON     NAVY    YARDS NAVAL 

RELIGION  WELL-PAID  CREWS A  SUNSET. 

fTlHE  American  people  realize  the  importance  of  the 
-*•  Northwest  to  such  an  extent  that  they  have  given 
the  name  of  Inland  Empire  to  a  part  of  this  region*  re 
ferring  to  the  riches  to  be  put  to  account,  the  territory 
to  be  populated,  and  the  unlimited  development  they 
foresee  for  the  future  of  the  nation.  It  was  a  mag 
nificently  bold  stroke  by  which  the  business  men,  cap 
tains  of  industry,  and  engineers,  built  across  apparently 
insurmountable  obstacles  the  interminable  railroads, 
costly  and  unproductive  that  opened  up  these  unde 
veloped  and  uninhabited  lands  as  a  field  for  human 
endeavor. 

*This    name    is    applied    rather    vaguely    to    eastern    Washington, 
northeastern   Oregon,   and   western   Montana. 

2I3 


214     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

The  faith  of  even  the  most  confident  people  of  the 
world  did  not  go  so  far  as  to  believe  in  such  an  adven 
turous  project.  Seeing  them  push  their  line  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  miles,  here  across  arid  deserts,  there 
over  torrents,  bridges,  lakes,  tunnelling  or  skirting  gi 
gantic  mountains,  the  directors  were  accused  by  every 
one  of  ruining  their  credulous  stockholders;  and,  in  at 
tacking  the  man  who  was  the  brains  of  the  enterprise, 
words  could  not  be  found  strong  enough  to  blame  the 
folly  of  James  J.  Hill. 

But  he  went  on  his  way  unheeding.  In  1879  he 
and  his  associates  had  reorganized  the  St.  Paul,  Min 
neapolis  and  Manitoba  Railroad,  which  then  owned 
only  657  miles  of  rails;  in  the  following  years  he  ex 
tended  it  toward  the  West  and  added  to  it  the  most  im 
portant  adjacent  lines,  so  that  by  1890  he  had  3,300 
miles  of  road.  But  the  Rocky  Mountains  still  blocked 
the  way.  Without  asking  the  State  for  either  sub 
sidies  or  land  concessions,  as  other  companies  had  done, 
Mr.  Hill,  with  his  personal  resources  and  those  of  his 
friends  whom  he  had  inspired  with  his  own  hopes,  at 
tacked  the  giant  barrier.  His  engineers  climbed  around 
summits,  pierced  tunnels,  followed  or  bridged  torrents, 
and  finally  came  out  on  the  Pacific  slope ;  from  then  on 
they  pursued  their  way  through  virgin  forests  and 
across  empty  plains  until,  in  1893,  they  reached  the 
coast.  Although  it  was  a  panic  year,  returns  began  at 
once,  and  from  then  on  the  stockholders  have  received 
dividends  all  the  larger  from  the  fact  that,  in  their 
superb  confidence,  they  faced  all  the  expenses  of  build- 


THE  NORTHWEST  215 

ing  the  road  and  buying  up  other  companies  without 
issuing  bonds.  To-day  the  Great  Northern  stretches 
its  network  of  rails  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  ocean, 
from  Chicago  to  Seattle,  covering  twice  the  distance 
from  Paris  to  Constantinople;  besides  which,  the  com 
pany  has  built  a  line  of  steamers  that  ply  between 
America  and  Asia,  thus  extending  its  dominion  to  the 
shores  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 

Thus  communication  with  Asia  and  Oceanica  is  es 
tablished  by  way  of  Puget  Sound,  with  its  sixteen  hun 
dred  miles  of  sheltered  coast  line,  where  a  hundred 
seaports  could  be  built  capable  of  harboring  vessels  of 
heaviest  tonnage ;  and  also  with  the  old  and  prosperous 
Eastern,  Central  and  Middle-Western  States  by  means 
of  the  Great  Northern,  and  by  other  lines  as  well. 
Such  are  the  magnificent  highways,  the  one  opened  by 
Providence  and  the  other  by  the  genius  of  man,  that 
permit  the  inhabitants  of  this  new  and  favored  land 
to  ship  all  over  the  world  the  riches  surrounding  them, 
accumulated  throughout  the  ages  in  the  forests,  the 
mines,  the  pastures,  and  even  the  waters;  and  to  raise 
themselves,  with  a  rapidity  disconcerting  to  the  imag 
ination,  to  a  degree  of  prosperity  so  solid  and  brilliant 
that  one  wonders  if  the  history  of  the  world  knows  of 
another  such  striking  example.  It  is  true  that  these 
natural  treasures  fell  all  at  once  into  the  hands  of  the 
most  energetic  and  best  prepared  portion  of  the  human 
race,  since  most  of  those  who  are  to-day  developing  the 
Northwest  come,  not  from  the  Old  World,  but  from 
the  other  States  of  the  Union  (especially  those  of  the 


216     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Middle  West, —  Minnesota,  the  Dakotas,  and  Iowa), 
where  they  have  benefited  by  the  recent  discoveries  of 
science,  and  are  already  imbued  with  the  rapid  methods 
and  conquering  spirit  of  America.  If  one  stop  to  con 
sider  that  these  regions,  two  or  three  times  the  size  of 
France,  have  as  yet  but  three  or  four  million  inhab 
itants,  one  is  thunderstruck  by  what  the  latter  have  al 
ready  accomplished,  and  one  wonders  how  far  they 
will  go  when,  as  will  certainly  happen  before  long, 
they  will  have  increased  their  number  threefold  or 
tenfold. 

In  the  broad  sense  in  which  we  have  been  considering 
it,  the  Northwest  would  include  the  States  of  Oregon, 
Idaho,  Montana,  and  Washington ;  and  several  exceed 
ingly  prosperous  cities,  such  as  Helena  and  Butte, 
should  be  mentioned;  and  above  all  Portland,  the  chief 
city  of  Oregon,  on  a  tributary  of  the  powerful  Colum 
bia  River,  which  is  navigable  for  large  ships,  and  forms 
a  highway  between  the  interior  and  the  coast.  Port 
land,  which  in  1890  had  50,000  inhabitants,  now  has 
140,000;  the  total  of  its  transactions  amounts  to  one 
hundred  million  dollars  and  increases  yearly  by  sixteen 
million  dollars;  it  mills  enormous  quantities  of  flour, 
and  its  sawmills  cut  up  a  thousand  million  trees  an 
nually  into  lumber,  principally  for  exportation.  But 
since  the  State  of  Washington  is  the  only  one  I  visited, 
I  will  restrict  myself  to  it. 

Its  soil,  very  rich  in  most  parts  and  capable  of  be 
coming  so  in  others,  is  equal  in  extent  to  half  of  France. 


THE  NORTHWEST  217 

About  three  hundred  thousand  settlers,  who  might  be 
twenty  times  as  many,  exploit  the  resources  which  na 
ture  offers  spontaneously  or  yields  to  their  labor:  ac 
cording  to  figures,  which  on  an  average,  increase  10 
per  cent  yearly,  the  lumber  trade  produced  eighty  mil 
lion  dollars  in  1905;  agriculture,  including  cereals, 
fruits,  dairy  products,  and  hay,  seventy-six  million  dol 
lars*;  coal  mines,  $5,500,000;  fisheries  an  equal  sum; 
and  mining  a  million.  In  the  first  five  years  of  the 
new  country  the  investment  in  manufactures  increased 
190  per  cent  at  Seattle,  145  per  cent  at  Spokane,  95 
per  cent  at  Tacoma,  and  69  per  cent  at  Portland.  The 
customs  of  Seattle  took  in  two  millions  and  a  half  more 
in  1906  than  in  1905.  The  average  of  salaries,  which 
in  1905  was  five  hundred  and  twenty- three  dollars  in 
the  eastern  and  central  cities  and  three  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  in  the  south,  reached,  the  same  year  six 
hundred  and  fifty-two  at  Tacoma,  six  hundred  and 
seventy-five  at  Seattle,  and  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
six  at  Spokane. 

Seattle,  the  "Queen  City";  Spokane,  the  "City  of 
the  Inland  Empire  " ;  and  Tacoma,  the  "  City  of  Des 
tiny,"  are  the  three  principal  towns  of  the  State  of 
Washington.  We  have  dwelt  sufficiently  on  the  first. 
Spokane  will  not  detain  us,  for  the  excellent  reason 
that  I  had  not  time  to  go  there,  although  it  is  only  four 
hundred  miles  from  the  coast.  To  give  an  idea  of  its 

*In  1908  the  cereals  alone  were  estimated  by  the  Bureau  of  Agri 
culture  at  $29,728,000;  the  hay  crop  at  $9,229,000,  and  potatoes  at 
$3,055,000. 


218     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

progress  it  will  suffice  to  say  that  it  had  500  inhab 
itants  in  1880,  and  more  than  100,000  in  1907;  that 
its  property  was  estimated  at  thirty  millions,  and  its 
bank  transactions  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  dol 
lars.  Besides  other  products  for  which  it  is  the  econ 
omic  centre,  it  ships  each  year  twenty  million  bushels 
of  wheat  and  eight  thousand  carloads  of  fruit.  Hav 
ing  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  Tacoma,  which  is  only 
twenty-five  miles  from  Seattle,  I  shall  speak  of  it  at 
greater  length. 

For  Tacoma  also  the  prodigious  growth  translates 
itself  naturally  into  fantastic  figures,  the  accumulation 
of  which  may  perhaps  fatigue  the  reader,  but  which, 
it  must  be  acknowledged,  gives  the  best  idea  of  the 
rapid  progress  made  in  this  part  of  the  world.  I  may 
say  that  it  had  1,093  inhabitants  in  1880;  37,714  in 
1900;  84,910  in  1906,  and  has  by  now  undoubtedly 
more  than  100,000;  that  in  a  single  year,  from  1905 
to  1906,  the  bank  transactions  increased  from  140  to 
187  million  dollars,  and  the  customs  receipts  from 
$249,211  to  $414,273;  that  its  ocean  trade  rose  from 
$22,800,000  in  1900  to  $50,084,000  in  1906,  an  in 
crease  in  six  years  of  120  per  cent.  I  could  tell  of  the 
millions  spent  on  embellishing  the  streets,  parks,  and 
public  buildings;  speak  of  its  flour  mills  and  saw  mills 
and  railroads;  of  the  number  of  steamship  companies 
stopping  there  and  connecting  it  directly  with  all  the 
Pacific  ports;  in  short  I  could  explain,  in  the  epic  style 
of  the  official  report:  "  Tacoma,  the  electric  city  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  makes  more  boards,  laths,  and  beams  than 


THE  NORTHWEST  219 

any  other  city  in  the  world;  refines  more  ore  than  any 
other  city  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  mills  more 
flour  than  any  city  west  of  Minneapolis  and  Kansas 
City ;  it  has  the  most  important  factories  of  the  North 
west  for  building  and  repairing  cars  and  locomotives ;  it 
furnishes  cart-wheels  for  the  whole  Pacific  coast;  has 
the  largest  fisheries  in  the  United  States;  the  biggest 
furniture  factories  on  the  coast,  and  the  largest  coffin 
factories  west  of  the  Missouri."*  But  because  I  feel 
the  reader  getting  bored  (very  foolishly)  by  this  kind 
of  account,  I  shall  beg  of  the  intelligent  city  of  Ta- 
coma  to  permit  me  to  speak  of  her  no  longer  as  a  bus 
iness  centre,  but  merely  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
ingenuous  traveller;  restful,  agreeable,  and  picturesque 
indeed,  are  the  impressions  I  have  of  her  as  seen 
through  the  veil  of  memory. 

It  was  early  in  the  morning  that  I  boarded  the  little 
electric  train  that  connects  Tacoma  and  Seattle,  and  of 
which  the  station  is  near  the  big  totem  pole  of  Pioneer 
Square,  the  only  historical  monument  of  Seattle.  To 
tem  poles  are  a  sort  of  funeral  columns,  playing  the 
same  role  as  the  Pyramids,  which  the  Indians  raised  in 
memory  of  their  ancestors.  On  them  they  carved  and 
painted  symbolic  heads  to  recall  their  great  dead,  and 
it  seems  they  worship  them.  One  meets  with  quite  a 
number  among  the  Northwestern  Indians.  The  Se 
attle  totem  pole  was  stolen  from  Alaska  by  some 
traders  and  excursionists,  who  gave  it  to  the  city.  The 

*Very  abbreviated  extract  from  an  official  account. 


220     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

despoiled  tribe  objected  vehemently,  and  was  not  ap 
peased  until  the  Government  paid  it  a  large  indemnity, 
—  I  hope  that  it  was  not  entirely  consoled  thereby. 

The  three  cars  of  our  little  electric  train  quickly 
traverse  the  thirty  miles  between  the  two  cities.  At 
first  the  plain  is  covered  with  factories  and  workmen's 
houses;  afterwards  come  isolated  farms;  then,  about 
half  way,  untouched  nature,  a  thicket  of  trees  and 
vines,  ponds,  and  undergrowth.  But  one  realizes  that 
from  year  to  year,  from  day  to  day,  from  hour  to  hour, 
all  this  is  disappearing  before  the  farming  machines, 
the  plough,  the  hay  tedder,  the  reaper,  and  the  thresher, 
if  not  before  the  iron  skeletons  of  new  buildings  and 
the  commonplace  cutting  of  streets  at  right  angles. 
This  thought  gives  a  more  pathetic  look  to  the  flowers 
and  verdure  that  one  can  reach  as  one  passes;  one 
greets  and  caresses  them  before  they  die. 

I  arrived  at  Tacoma  full  of  the  picture  drawn  of  it 
five  years  earlier  by  M.  Urbain  Gohier : 

"  At  the  foot  of  the  incline  (of  the  railroad  coming  from  the 
Rockies)  lies  Tacoma,  curious  and  ugly:  it  is  the  American  city 
at  birth.  All  built  of  boards,  the  stations,  the  houses,  the 
churches,  the  sidewalks,  the  roadways;  no  provision  yet  for 
comfort,  but  everything  required  for  work:  electric  cars  and 
electric  light  everywhere,  rails,  trains,  wharfs.  Wealth  gushes 
from  the  soil;  in  twenty  years  the  ugly  village  will  be  a 
pretty  town;  in  place  of  cowboys  galloping  on  the  slippery 
boards  between  cows  and  hens,  there  will  be  clerks  and  girls  in 
the  latest  New  York  styles."* 

*Urbain  Gohier,  "  Le  Peuple  du  Vingtieme  Siecle,"  p.  285. 


THE  NORTHWEST  221 

In  twenty  years!  Yet  Mr.  Urbain  Gohier  is  one  of 
those  who  have  best  understood  American  activity. 
How  could  he  assign  it  such  a  long  delay?  I  went  to 
Tacoma  five  years  after  his  visit,  and  the  "  ugly  "  vil 
lage  is  one  of  the  most  elegant  cities  I  have  seen  on  my 
travels.  The  business  quarter  is  no  uglier  than  those 
of  the  East,  and  the  residences  would  not  disfigure  any 
city  of  Europe.  Many  of  the  private  houses  would  be 
quite  appropriate  around  the  parks  of  our  capitals; 
and  the  High  School,  finished  in  1906,  is  so  beautiful 
that  it  recalls  the  chateaux  that  our  kings  built  for 
themselves  along  the  banks  of  the  Loire.  Tacoma  al 
ready  lays  claim  to  the  name  "  City  of  Homes,"  like 
Philadelphia,  and  it  looks  so  finished  that  one  would 
almost  credit  it  with  the  fabulous  antiquity  of  half  a 
century ! 

I  have  plenty  of  time  to  appreciate  the  venerable 
aspect  of  things  at  Tacoma.  Our  tramway  is  stopped 
in  the  lower  town  by  a  circus  parade,  an  American  cir 
cus  with  herds  of  wild  animals  and  armies  of  human 
performers.  The  street  is  crowded  with  women  and 
children,  who  watch  or  follow  the  procession;  traffic  is 
at  a  standstill,  and  to  my  astonishment  no  one  is  an 
noyed  by  the  delay;  we  might  almost  be  in  the  French 
provinces.  I  walk  up  the  pretty  street  leading  to  Ya- 
kima  Avenue,  lined  with  villas,  with  rustic  columns, 
dormers,  and  cupolas,  all  of  new-looking  wood,  that 
are  surrounded  with  lawns  and  shrubbery;  and  I  enter 
the  Church  of  St.  Leo  the  Great,  just  as  they  are  trying 
a  new  organ  that  had  arrived  that  very  morning. 


222     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

The  priest,  Father  Hylebos,  exercises  also  the  func 
tions  of  Vicar  General.  He  and  Father  Kauten  of 
Seattle  are  the  oldest  priests  of  the  diocese,  and  it  seems 
very  strange  from  the  summit  of  this  great  and  beauti 
ful  city  to  hear  him  tell  his  recollections  of  the  time 
when  the  whole  region  was  inhabited  by  only  a  few 
savages.  This  is  about  what  he  told  me. 

"  I  came  as  missionary  to  the  Indians.  It  was  in  1870,  and 
Tacoma  did  not  exist  then.  There  was  no  road  except  the 
Indian  trail.  The  branches  were  so  low  that  I  often  had  to 
dismount.  Once  my  horse  stopped  suddenly,  trembling  in 
every  limb;  we  were  face  to  face  with  a  mountain  lioness  and 
her  cub.  I  shrieked  so  that  it  frightened  even  her,  and  she 
took  to  flight.  I  found  along  the  bay  about  five  hundred  aborig 
ines,  who  lived  by  salmon-fishing.  Three  miles  from  here  was 
the  Puyallup  Indian  mission.  The  missionaries  had  chosen  this 
site  as  being  the  best  centre  of  communication;  the  aborigines 
reached  it  easily  by  Puget  Sound  or  the  mountain  path.  They 
met  around  a  cross  planted  in  1840  by  the  first  missionaries,  the 
Canadian  priests,  Father  Demers  and  Father  Blanchet,  who  be 
came  the  first  Bishop  of  Oregon  City.  When  he  had  received 
his  Bull,  he  ingenuously  started  for  Mexico,  and  afterwards 
\vent  to  France  to  be  consecrated ;  in  this  he  did  not  succeed, 
having  no  means  of  establishing  his  identity.  '  His  Bull?  '  you 
say.  He  might  have  stolen  it.  He  returned  to  Canada,  where 
he  was  known,  and  was  there  consecrated  in  July,  1845,  after 
a  year  and  a  half  of  peregrinations. 

"  But  to  return  to  the  mission.  There  was  Mass,  of  course, 
then  instruction  that  must  be  repeated  by  heart.  Next  followed 
a  banquet  in  the  wigwam  of  the  chief.  Only  the  men  took 
part,  the  squaws  squatting  around  on  the  ground,  their  papooses 
on  their  backs.  Both  men  and  women  wore  long  hair,  long 
and  unkempt.  The  children  picked  up  the  insects  that  dropped 


THE   NORTHWEST  223 

from  it  and  carried  them  to  their  mothers  who  killed  them 
between  their  teeth  and  then  threw  them  away.  '  That  is 
dirty,'  I  said  to  them  at  first. 

"  '  They  are  not  dirty,  since  they  live  on  us,'  they  replied. 

"  '  Why  do  you  bite  them  ?  ' 
;  '  Because  they  bite  us,'  they  answered. 
;  There  are  now  but  three  hundred  and  fifty  savages ;  all 
the  rest  are  dead,  either  from  abuse  of  the  liquor  sold  them 
by  the  whites,  or  from  measles,  which  is  fatal  to  them,  as  they 
go  out  in  the  cold  even  when  the  fever  is  at  its  height."* 

After  lunch  we  went  out  on  the  boulevards  above 
the  city,  and  while  I  admired  their  extent  and  activity, 
while  at  our  feet  stirred  trains  and  ships,  while  there 
rose  to  our  ears  the  dull  noise  from  the  docks,  the  saw 
mills,  the  flourmills,  the  foundries,  and  the  factories, 
the  aged  missionary  told  me  fabulous  tales  dating  from 
day  before  yesterday :  how  the  Northern  Pacific  having 
crossed  the  estuary  of  the  Columbia  River  in  a  ferry 
boat,  had  reached  salt  water  in  1875;  and  how  the  pop 
ulation,  now  numbering  more  than  100,000  souls, 
consisted  then  of  twenty-six  workmen  building  a  wharf 
to  connect  the  trains  and  the  boats.  He  explained  to 
me  the  name  Tacoma,  which  comes  from  the  Indian  syl 
lables  ta,  the  sign  of  the  superlative;  co,  frozen;  and 
ma,  mountain;  and  which  signified  with  the  aborigines 
the  majestic  chain  of  the  Cascade  Mountains.  These 
mountains  which  with  their  snowy  summits  shut  in  our 
horizon  to  the  south  and  east,  .offer  as  fine  excursions  to 


*There  remain  a  great  many  Indians  in  the  States  of  Montana  and 
Washington.  A  few  tribes  are  converted  to  Catholicism  or  Protestant 
ism;  others  are  still  pagan. 


224     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

the  tourist  as  the  most  beautiful  ones  of  Tyrol  or  Swit 
zerland.  Lakes,  forests,  torrents,  waterfalls,  and 
glaciers, —  nothing  is  missing  that  makes  up  the  splen 
dor  of  Alpine  scenery ;  and  the  view  from  the  summit  of 
Mt.  Rainier  at  a  height  of  14,363  feet*  is  surpassed  by 
but  few  in  the  world.  From  it  one  sees  stretched  at 
one's  feet  the  blue  meanderings  of  Puget  Sound,  and 
the  green  forests  of  Oregon  and  Washington;  in  Brit 
ish  Columbia,  to  the  north,  rise  the  peaks  of  Mt.  Scott, 
and  Mt.  Baker;  one  overlooks,  to  the  west,  the  chain 
of  the  Olympic  Mountains,  and  through  some  of  the 
defiles  one  catches  glimpses  of  the  Pacific  melting 
vaguely  into  the  azure  of  the  sky. 

I  might  as  well  admit,  though,  that  I  did  not  make 
this  ascent,  but  contented  myself  with  visiting  the  al 
ready  beautiful  parks  of  Tacoma,  and  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  more  useful  than  picturesque,  but  where 
some  of  the  data  of  the  preceding  pages  were  graciously 
furnished  me.  But,  without  having  scaled  any 
heights,  crossed  any  glaciers,  or  been  buffeted  by  snow 
storms,  on  my  way  home  to  Seattle  in  the  evening  I 
kept  longing  for  rest,  and  it  never  occurred  to  me  that 
before  I  went  to  sleep,  I  should  give  the  finest  inter 
view  of  my  trip. 

"What  do  you  think  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  speech"?" 
a  reporter  of  The  Post  Intelligencer^  the  most  im- 

*The  exact  altitudes  of  the  peaks  of  Washington  are:  Rainier, 
14,363  feet;  Adoma,  12,470;  Baker,  10,827.  Mt.  Olympus  rises  to 
8,250  feet. 


THE  NORTHWEST  225 

portant  newspaper  of  the  city,  asked  me  immediately 
on  my  return. 

"What  speech ?  "  I  asked. 

"  The  one  he  delivered  yesterday  at  Province  to  wn."* 

"But  I  have  n't  read  it.  I  have  just  arrived  at 
Tacoma,  and  the  Bishop  expects  me  to  dinner,"  I 
objected. 

"The  newspaper  sent  me  to  ask  your  opinion;  and 
the  Bishop  will  tell  you  how  important  tfhe  Post  In 
telligencer  is,"  he  returned. 

"  I  don't  doubt  it  in  the  least;  but  I  don't  know  the 
speech,  and  you  will  understand." 

"  The  paper  wants  this  interview." 

This  was  said  in  such  a  decided  tone  that  it  was  clear 
I  could  not  escape.  "  Have  you  the  text4?  "  I  asked. 

"  I  will  see,"  he  replied  quietly,  and  he  hunted  in  his 
big  portfolio.  The  speech  was  there;  we  were  saved! 
I  had  still  ten  miuntes:  I  spent  five  reading  up  the 
subject;  one,  wondering  what  I  thought  about  it;  and 
four,  telling  the  result  to  North  America!  The  next 
day, —  but  I  am  leaving  my  readers  in  the  same  ignor 
ance  as  mine  was,  instead  of  telling  them  that  it  was  a 
question  of  the  proceedings  against  the  trusts, —  the 
next  day,  after  having  put  into  my  mouth  that  I  wished 
to  avoid  personalities,  the  reporter  set  forth  in  my 
name,  in  two  hundred  well  written  lines,  the  general 
idea  that  I  had  indeed  fallen  back  on,  and  of  which  I 
was  thoroughly  convinced:  namely  that,  should  the 

*An  old  Massachusetts  town,  where  the  Mayflower  landed  on 
November  n,  1620. 


226     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

people  of  the  United  States  suffer  materially  from  the 
investigation  into,  and  application  of,  the  letter  of 
the  law  to  citizens  or  even  the  most  powerful  trusts,  this 
loss  would  be  but  temporary  and  secondary;  whereas 
it  would  be  a  wrong  of  far  greater  consequence  to 
lower,  by  culpable  compliance,  the  public  ideal,  and  to 
attack,  perhaps  fatally,  the  conscience  of  the  nation. 
The  way  in  which  the  reporter  developed  this  theme 
brought  me,  I  must  confess,  more  congratulations  than 
most  of  the  pages  I  have  written  with  my  own  hand. 
It  is  true  that,  by  way  of  compensation,  in  other  papers 
they  made  me  make  more  mistakes  than  I  ever  should 
have  found  alone.  This  is  the  common  lot  of  the  trav 
eller  in  the  United  States,  and  perhaps  elsewhere:  an 
interview  gives  the  right  to  judge  none  but  the  reporter. 

As  I  had,  up  to  that  time,  the  intention  of  going  to 
San  Francisco  by  rail  and  so  passing  through  Portland, 
I  expressed  to  my  friend,  the  chaplain  of  the  hospital, 
my  desire  to  make  an  excursion  to  Puget  Sound,  if  only 
to  be  able  to  say  I  had  been  on  the  Pacific  —  one  would 
know  the  Atlantic  in  the  same  way  by  venturing  out  on 
the  harbor  of  Arcachon !  The  plan  was  not  displeas 
ing,  and  it  was  arranged  that  I  should  be  taken  to 
Bremerton,  where  the  Pacific  Navy  Yard  is.  We  set 
sail  gayly  on  a  fine  morning,  the  chaplain,  a  vicar  of 
Spokane,  and  I ;  once  more  it  will  be  seen  that  in  Amer 
ica  the  cloth  is  quite  the  opposite  of  an  obstacle  to 
having  the  entree  everywhere.  Boats,  about  corre 
sponding  to  those  making  the  tour  of  the  Lake  of  Gen- 


THE  NORTHWEST  227 

eva,  run  regularly  along  the  coast  and  among  the 
islands  of  Puget  Sound.  If  the  atmosphere  were  clear, 
one  might  imagine  oneself  on  Lake  Leman;  the  chain 
of  the  Olympics  would  take  the  place  of  the  Jura,  and 
the  Cascades  that  of  the  Alps.  Thanks  to  Mt.  Rainier, 
nearly  15,000  feet  high,  one  would  not  miss  the  eternal 
snow  of  Mt.  Blanc.  The  view,  as  described  to  me, 
must  be  splendid  on  clear  days;  what  I  see  charms  me 
exceedingly.  I  love  the  softness  of  this  bluish  mist 
which  floats  vaguely  in  the  air  and  softens  down  the 
contour  of  the  nearer  hills,  blending  to  almost  the  same 
tint  the  great  forest  trees  and  the  deep  waters  of  the 
Pacific.  Close  at  hand,  however,  the  colors  can  be  dis 
cerned,  and  in  the  sea  itself  tall  pines  are  reflected  here 
and  there  along  the  coast,  in  splashes  of  dark  green. 
The  scene  changes  continually;  on  the  shore,  some 
times  flat  and  sometimes  abrupt,  salt-marshes  follow  on 
the  heels  of  rich  prairies  or,  more  often,  of  forests; 
farms  or  elegant  villas  emerge  from  the  solitude;  we 
pass  in  front  of  Luna  Park,  entirely  devoted  to  amuse 
ments  for  Seattle  as  is  its  namesake  of  the  East  or 
Coney  Island  to  those  of  New  York.  The  impression 
of  diversity  is  accentuated  by  the  unforeseen  windings 
of  the  fiord,  the  caprice  by  which  it  curves  suddenly  as 
though  to  come  back  on  its  tracks,  and  sometimes 
shrinks  to  the  dimensions  of  a  modest  river,  or  again 
spreads  out  into  bays  that  seem  to  call  for  fleets;  it  is 
a  sort  of  compromise  between  the  sublime  indentations 
of  the  Hardanger  in  Norway  and  the  graceful  intri 
cacies  in  which  the  Baltic  indulges  before  Stockholm. 


228     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

The  Navy  Yard  of  Bremerton  is  situated  at  the  end 
of  one  of  the  longest  arms  of  Puget  Sound,  and  it 
really  seems  as  though  one  need  fear  no  hostile  surprise 
there  any  more  than  at  the  other  parts  of  the  fiord,  pro 
tected  as  it  is  both  by  the  natural  arrangement  of  the 
land  and  the  forts  that  command  all  the  important 
points.  Father  Allain,  the  priest  of  Bremerton,  who 
came  down  to  the  dock  to  meet  us,  had  prepared  a 
sumptuous  reception  for  us  at  his  rectory.  A  French 
Canadian  from  Acadia,  and  cultivated  to  the  point  of 
having  read  some  of  my  works,  he  welcomed  us  most 
heartily,  and  had  arranged  to  accompany  us  back  to 
Seattle  after  keeping  us  with  him  as  long  as  possible. 
Every  one  who  comes  near  him  is  charmed  with  his  affa 
bility  and  when,  after  lunch,  he  took  us  to  the  Yard,  all 
doors  were  opened  to  us  and  all  hands  extended. 
Rear-admiral  Burwell  received  us  in  his  office,  and  Ad 
miral  Swinburne  on  his  flag-ship,  as  though  they  each 
had  nothing  better  to  do.  Yet,  Heaven  knows,  they 
work  hard.  The  Japanese  question  was  far  from  being 
settled ;  and  the  Government,  having  decided  to  send  its 
whole  fleet  to  the  Pacific,  a  project  as  yet  hazy  to  the 
mind  of  the  average  outsider,  was  preparing  for  any 
eventuality  that  might  occur  if  the  Mikado  would  not 
see  the  disinterested  motives  of  this  little  journey.  We 
visited  two  cruisers  and  a  torpedo  boat  in  dry-dock. 
Being  of  an  incompetence  that  should  recommend  me 
as  under-secretary  to  Monsieur  Pelletan,  should  he 
ever  be  recalled  to  destroy  our  navy  when  it  shall  be 
put  on  its  feet  again,  there  is  no  danger  of  my  betray- 


THE  NORTHWEST  229 

ing  any  of  the  secrets  of  American  defence.  The  worst 
I  could  do  would  be  if  Bremerton  were  Toulon,  to 
compromise  the  future  of  one  of  the  two  admirals  — 
Swinburne,  to  complete  my  information  —  by  reveal 
ing  that  he  keeps  on  full  view  in  his  stateroom  a  por 
trait  of  Pius  X  himself.  It  is  true  that  it  is  a  souvenir 
of  the  painter,  a  friend  of  his ;  but  some  faults  admit  of 
no  excuse ! 

Give  clericalism  an  inch  and  it  takes  an  ell!  The 
same  navy  that  does  not  worry  over  the  presence  on  a 
flag-ship  of  a  portrait  of  the  Pope,  provides  for  the 
religious  needs  of  its  crews.  There  are  now  twenty- 
four  chaplains  of  the  fleet,  and  an  increase  of  the  num 
ber  is  under  consideration.  At  present,  five  are 
Catholics ;  five,  Episcopalian,  and  the  rest  belong  to  va 
rious  denominations.  All  consciences  must  receive  satis 
faction,  and  everyone  helps  toward  this  end.  Here,  for 
instance,  the  chaplain,  the  Rev.  Arthur  W.  Stone,  be 
longs  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  but  he  not  only  sends 
the  Catholic  sailors  to  our  friend  the  priest  of  Bremer 
ton,  but  he  invites  the  latter  to  come  to  visit  them  on 
the  flag-ship,  to  confess  them,  and  better  still,  to  cele 
brate  Mass  and  give  the  Holy  Communion.  The  most 
amiable  of  men  is  this  chaplain,  anyway,  and  we  car 
ried  him  off  to  dine  with  us  at  the  rectory  of  Bremer 
ton  after  he  had  taken  us  all  over  the  Navy  Yard, 
shown  us  everything  of  interest,  and  introduced  us  to 
all  the  officers  we  met.  I  have  not  forgotten  the  com 
mandant,  who  received  us  with  his  family,  who  were 
visiting  him  that  day,  and  who  had  a  pretty  little  black 


230     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

bear  that  surprised  me  by  putting  his  paws  on  my  knees 
and  nibbling  my  fingers  by  way  of  affection. 

The  sailors  of  the  United  States,  although  I  have 
read  something  to  the  contrary,  appeared  to  me  to  be 
a  very  happy  set.  As  is  well  known,  they  are  all  vol 
unteers;  and  if  the  independence  natural  to  Americans 
may,  from  time  to  time,  cause  some  of  them  to  regret 
their  enlistment,  as  a  whole  they  seem  very  well  sat 
isfied  with  their  lot;  which  is  not  surprising  when  one 
considers  the  conditions. 

From  the  moment  of  their  enlistment  as  naval  ap 
prentices  they  receive  a  forty-five-dollar  outfit,  thirty 
cents  a  day  for  rations,  and  sixteen  dollars  a  month 
pay.  At  the  end  of  from  six  months  to  a  year  they 
become  common  seamen  at  nineteen  dollars  a  month; 
almost  always  the  next  year  their  pay  is  raised  to  twen 
ty-four  dollars  with  increases  of  one,  two,  or  three  dol 
lars  according  to  their  capacity.  Often  after  the  end  of 
his  first  period  of  enlistment,  which  is  four  years,  the 
seaman  becomes  a  petty  officer  of  the  third  class  with 
thirty  dollars,  or  even  of  the  second  class  with  thirty- 
five  dollars  per  month.  If  he  reenlist  his  pay  is  in 
creased  and  may  reach  at  the  end  of  a  year,  as  that  of 
petty  officer  of  the  first  class,  the  handsome  sum  of 
seventy  dollars  a  month.  With  intelligence  and  good 
conduct  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  him  from  becom 
ing,  at  the  end  of  seven  years  of  service,  a  commis 
sioned  officer,  with  an  annual  pay  which  begins  at 
twelve  hundred  dollars  and  increases  every  five  years 
until  it  reaches  eighteen  hundred  dollars.  But  it  is  still 


THE  NORTHWEST  231 

a  far  cry  to  the  top  rung  of  the  ladder,  for  every  year 
nine  petty  officers  are  promoted  to  the  grade  of  ensign. 
All  seamen  may  leave  any  part  of  their  pay  they  please 
with  the  Purser,  and  the  Government  allows  them  four 
per  cent  interest  on  it.  Furthermore  their  future  is 
secured.  On  receiving  an  honorable  discharge  after  ten 
years'  service  they  can  easily  obtain,  if  they  wish,  a  po 
sition  in  an  arsenal  or  navy  yard,  or  as  instructors;  if 
they  are  declared  physically  unfit  for  service  and  are 
recommended  by  their  officers,  they  receive  a  pension. 
After  twenty  years  they  have  the  right  to  choose  either 
a  permanent  retreat  in  the  Naval  Home  at  Philadel 
phia  or  retiring  on  a  pension  equal  to  half  their  last 
pay.  If  they  have  served  for  thirty  years,  this  pension 
will  amount  to  two- thirds  their  last  pay.  In  all  this 
lies  the  reason  that,  so  far,  the  United  States  has  gotten 
along  without  conscription,  although  their  navy  is  to 
day  the  largest  in  the  world  after  England's,  out 
numbering  Germany's  by  a  little,  and  France's  by  a 
great  deal. 

On  the  steamer  going  back  that  evening  we  talked 
of  this  naval  strength  and  supposing  that  the  fleets 
of  the  two  oceans  could  be  brought  together  in  the  Pa 
cific,  what  the  chances  would  be  of  overcoming  the 
Japanese  squadrons.  The  question  then  was  the  burn 
ing  one  of  the  day,  though  it  seems  now  to  be  about 
settled  by  the  notes  exchanged  at  the  end  of  1908  be 
tween  the  Governments  of  Tokio  and  Washington, 
guaranteeing  both  the  integrity  of  China  and  the  prin 
ciple  of  the  Open  Door,  and  agreeing  to  undertake 


232     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

nothing  against  their  respective  possessions  on  the  Pa 
cific  Ocean.  May  the  ingrained  conflict  between  eco 
nomic  interests  and  racial  differences  not  arouse  the 
threatening  problem  too  soon  again ! 

The  thought  of  the  dangers  it  harbored  threw  a 
melancholy  glamour  over  the  end  of  this  beautiful  day ; 
or  perhaps  it  was  the  landscape  that  made  us  pensive. 
I  have  never  seen  one  like  it;  the  sky,  serene  and  with 
out  clouds  or  fog,  was  nevertheless  hung  with  strange 
mists,  which,  I  learned,  came  from  the  forest  fires, 
those  scourges  that  burn  for  weeks  every  year  devour 
ing  all  before  them,  and  sweeping  away  towns  as  well 
as  any  other  obstacles  that  lie  in  their  path.  The  orb 
of  the  sun  set  blood-red  behind  the  Olympic  Moun 
tains,  in  the  direction  of  far-off  disquieting  Asia.  Then 
I  felt  the  magic  spell  of  the  sea  and  its  secrets  grip  me 
so  strongly  that  my  plans  for  the  overland  journey 
faded  into  thin  air,  and  I  resolved  to  abandon  myself 
for  several  days  to  the  inspiration  of  the  mysterious 
ocean  waves. 


CHAPTER  XI 
ON  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN 

ACTIVITY    OF    THE    PORT    OF    SEATTLE DELAYED    DE 
PARTURE A    FALSELY    PACIFIC   SEA MEETINGS 

ON  BOARD:  LITTLE  JAPS;  STUDENTS  OF  BOTH  SEXES 
< — "EUROPE,  IF  YOU  WISH;  BUT  AMERICA  FIRST" 
ALASKA,  THE  NORWAY  OF  AMERICA UNCLE 

SAM?S  GOOD  INVESTMENT THE  EXCELLENT  CAP 
TAIN  STORY  OF  A  FIRE  AT  SEA CORDIAL  SIM 
PLICITY  OF  WESTERNERS A  WORD  ON  THE  JEWISH 

QUESTION ON    MOONBEAMS. 

E  next  day  but  one,  August  24,  instead  of  leav- 
ing  for  San  Francisco  by  rail,  which  would  have 
allowed  me  to  stop  at  Portland,  and  afterwards  to  cross 
the  wooded  mountains  of  Oregon,  and  then  the  alter 
nation  of  snowy  sierras  with  rich  plains  which  makes 
northern  California  so  picturesque,  I  went  on  board  a 
pretty  little  steamer  of  2,036  tons,  the  Spokane^  belong 
ing  to  the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company,  whose 
service  extends  from  Mexico  to  Behring  Straits.  I  had 
to  go  only  eight  hundred  and  four  miles  of  which  fifty- 
four  lay  between  us  and  Victoria,  the  capital  of  British 
Columbia,  on  the  Island  of  Vancouver.  We  were  to 

233 


234     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

make  a  two  hours'  stop  there  in  the  middle  of  the  after 
noon,  and  I  was  rejoicing  at  the  prospect  of  having  a 
glimpse  of  its  beach,  its  parks,  its  residences,  and  its 
Parliament  House, —  so  many  marvels  of  elegance,  I 
had  been  told,  reproducing  in  this  distant  English  col 
ony  all  the  achievements  of  the  mother  country.  But  I 
was  counting  without  the  delays,  the  inevitable  delays ! 
I  am  not  complaining ;  I  am  merely  stating  that  we  left 
at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  instead  of  nine,  and 
that  we  put  in  to  Victoria  at  about  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening  instead  of  three  in  the  afternoon.  The  stop 
was  just  sufficient  for  us  to  answer  to  the  invitation, 
"  Cars  to  city,"  by  taking  the  tram  to  the  town,  buying 
a  few  post  cards,  and  rushing  back  as  fast  as  possible 
for  fear  of  missing  the  boat  and  being  stranded  there, 
our  hands  in  our  pockets,  while  our  valises  were  borne 
away.  A  little  more  delay  and  we  should  not  get  to 
San  Francisco  until  Wednesday  instead  of  Tuesday; 
but  as  I  was  not  to  speak  there  until  Thursday  it 
would  make  no  difference.  Still,  it  is  evidently  prudent 
to  allow  a  bit  of  leeway  on  these  little  journeys  in 
America,  and  it  is  just  as  well  when  one  is  going 
to  California  not  to  telegraph  ahead  from  Paris  or 
even  from  New  York  to  order  one's  lunch  at  a  certain 
hour. 

The  two  hours  that  I  had  to  wait  in  Seattle  harbor 
for  the  departure  of  the  Spokane  were  not  too  much  to 
enjoy  for  the  last  time  the  company  of  the  good  chap 
lain,  who,  profiting  by  the  delay,  almost  made  me  sign 
a  contract  to  return  for  the  Alaska-Yukon-Pacific  Ex- 


ON  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN        235 

position  *  of  1909.  At  the  same  time  as  though  to 
perfect  and  impress  my  recollection  of  the  activity 
of  Seattle,  on  every  side  I  saw  cases  of  merchandise 
piled  up,  even  on  the  decks  of  the  ships  crowding  the 
harbor  yet  not  half  the  goods  awaiting  shipment  were 
loaded.  It  is  true  that  it  was  the  moment  of  depart 
ure  for  the  North,  and  the  advanced  season  imposed  a 
good  deal  of  haste.  The  shippers  of  flour,  dairy 
products,  poultry,  potatoes,  onions,  preserves,  and  pro 
visions  of  all  sorts,  contested  for  stevedores  at  greatly 
increased  wages;  night  and  day  the  loading  was  car 
ried  on,  each  one  trying  to  outstrip  the  others  in  getting 
his  merchandise  on  board. 

So  great  were  the  demands  of  Alaska  and  the  Yukon 
in  their  preparations  against  winter,  and  so  numerous 
the  offers  of  the  Washington  producers  that  both 
greatly  exceeded  the  capacity  of  the  available  vessels. 
Nevertheless,  there  were  no  more  fresh  eggs  to  be  had 
at  any  price,  and  the  East  was  shipping  what  had  been 
kept  over  from  the  Spring  before.  Perhaps  nothing 
illustrates  better  than  this  little  detail  the  prosperity  of 
the  country  we  have  been  describing,  where  the  settlers 

*This  exposition,  where  every  one  could  take  account  of  the  progress 
made  in  this  part  of  the  New  World,  lasted  from  June  I  to  October 
15,  1909.  The  inhabitants  of  Alaska  took  the  initiative.  The  State 
of  Washington,  so  interested  in  the  prosperity  of  this  immense  district, 
gladly  adopted  the  plan  and  appropriated  $1,000,000  toward  it,  of 
which  $600,000  was  for  buildings  to  serve  afterwards  as  the  State 
University.  The  municipality  of  Seattle  appropriated  $750,000,  and  (a 
characteristic  detail)  the  private  subscriptions  of  its  citizens,  the  very 
day  the  project  was  put  forth,  reached  the  sum  of  $650,000.  The  build 
ings  and  grounds  in  the  suburbs  of  Seattle  given  up  to  the  Exposition 
alone  cost  $10,000,000. 


236     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

find  at  will  not  only  fertile  and  undeveloped  land,  but 
ever  growing  and  easily  reached  markets  for  their 
output. 

All  our  first  day  out,  on  Puget  Sound  and  the  Straits 
of  Juan  de  Fuca  as  far  as  Cape  Flattery,  where  we  look 
to  the  open  ocean,  the  sea  stretched,  calm  as  the  estuary 
of  a  river,  between  the  banks  and  around  the  slopes 
of  verdant  islands;  and  this  quiet  sailing  might  have 
been  continued,  had  such  been  our  plan,  for  another 
whole  day  before  we  could  have  reached  the  end  of 
Columbia  and  the  beginning  of  Alaska,  and  then  have 
begun  again  as  calm  as  ever,  along  the  sinuous  coast  of 
that  Territory. 

But  that  we  were  no  longer  steaming  in  quiet  fiords 
was  but  too  evident  to  me  the  next  morning,  when  I 
tried  to  leave  my  berth.  I  may  say  without  boasting 
that  I  lay  there  for  twenty-four  hours  transcendently 
disdaining  all  things  that  appeal  to  man  here  below, 
and  especially  nourishment.  The  captain,  whom  I 
shall  introduce  when  I  am  in  better  condition,  but 
whom  one  can  already  appreciate  by  his  kind  atten 
tion,  brought  me  two  apples,  and  whether  it  was 
suggestion  or  a  real  property  of  this  fruit,  the  most  cele 
brated  of  olden  times,  I  ate  them  with  no  bad  effects. 
But  except  for  this  pleasant  incident,  what  a  long, 
long,  I  may  even  say,  tedious  and  irksome  day !  Never 
in  my  life  have  I  spent  such  a  Sunday.  Mark  Twain, 
the  disrespectful,  in  his  "  Adam's  Diary,"  shows  that 
ever  since  the  time  of  our  first  father,  this  day  has  been 


ON  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN        237 

difficult  to  spend.  On  a  Monday  evening  he  gives  this 
entry:  "  Discovered  to-day  why  God  created  the  week; 
to  rest  us  from  Sunday."  This  recollection  was  my 
only  amusement.  All  the  rest  of  the  time  passed  in  the 
deepest  melancholy,  and  my  poor  half-unconscious  soul 
was  abandoned  to  the  most  preposterous  imaginings.  I 
was  angry  with  this  enormous  ocean  for  its  name 
of  "  Pacific  ";  I  upbraided  it  with  its  hypocrisy  in  dis 
playing  a  calm  surface  while  beneath  it  gave  itself  up 
to  the  worst  of  turmoils,  and  rolled  us  from  right  to 
left,  from  left  to  right,  until  the  boat  was  almost 
turned  over  and  over  like  a  chicken  on  the  spit,  of 
which  the  passengers  would  have  been  the  little 
lardons.  This  outlandish  comparison  did  not  inflict  it 
self  long  on  my  perturbed  brain;  but  the  simpler  idea 
constantly  recurred  that  our  boat  was  decidedly  too 
small  for  such  a  big  ocean.  Thus  was  expiated  my  de 
sire,  born  perhaps  of  the  wish  to  astonish  the  reader, 
to  entitle  one  of  my  chapters  "  On  the  Pacific." 

The  third  day  was  better,  and  it  is  not  without  pleas 
ure  that  I  recall  the  morning  of  convalescence  which  I 
passed  stretched  on  a  steamer  chair  on  the  upper  deck 
of  the  vessel,  watching  with  gradually  decreasing 
concern  the  peaceful  and  monotonous  sea  where,  from 
time  to  time,  a  little  variety  was  furnished  by  a  few 
whales  shaking  their  smooth  backs  and  applying  their 
energies  to  spouting,  through  the  blow  holes  in  the  top 
of  their  colossal  heads,  two  tall  jets  of  water  over  the 
stretches  of  empty  sea. 

That  afternoon  and  the  next  day  I  had  many  op- 


238     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

portunities  of  meeting  pleasant  people.  One's  atten 
tion  was  not  distracted  from  the  people  on  board,  for 
the  ocean  remained  as  lonely  as  when  it  bore,  in  old 
atlases,  the  beautiful  name  of  "  Silent  Sea,"  and  when 
the  intrepid  Magellan,  after  being  the  first  to  double 
Cape  Horn,  ploughed  the  awful  spaces  of  the  "  furrow- 
faced  sea  "  for  ninety-nine  days  without  discovering 
anything. 

I  remember  meeting  a  Seattle  merchant  who  had 
often  been  to  Japan.  But  the  subject  of  our  conversa 
tion,  which  bore  on  the  relations  of  this  country  with 
America,  deserves  being  treated  in  a  separate  chapter. 
I  prefer  to  speak  here  of  two  little  Japanese  brothers 
of  fourteen  and  sixteen  years,  whose  small  stature  made 
them  appear  at  least  four  years  younger.  They  had 
been  in  America  two  weeks  and  were  on  their  way  to 
Los  Angeles  to  study  at  the  college  there.  Nor  is  there 
anything  exceptional  in  this;  one  can  see  a  dozen  of 
their  compatriots  at  Harvard,  and  as  many  more  at 
Chicago  who  have  come  to  follow  the  university 
courses  from  their  fifteenth  to  their  twenty-second  year. 
The  older  of  our  two  scholars  already  knew  a  few 
words  of  English  and  was  only  too  glad  to  practise 
them.  I  can  hear  him  still,  saying  very  slowly,  when 
I  had  acquainted  him  with  my  nationality:  "France 
and  Japan,"  and  after  hunting  in  his  dictionary,  "  are 
friends."  The  younger  could  speak,  or  rather  keep 
silent,  only  in  Japanese.  He  did  not  find  a  word,  nor 
even  a  cry,  to  express  his  regret  when  a  breeze  blew 
his  cap  overboard;  but  he  followed  it  with  his  eyes, 


ON  THE  PACIFIC   OCEAN        239 

smiling  so  sadly  that  an  American  girl  in  our  group 
took  off  her  own  and  set  it  firmly  and  with  gracious- 
ness  on  his  head.  He  accepted  the  present  without 
ceremony  with  an  air,  pleased  no  doubt,  but  still  more 
astonished.  Every  one  was  kind  to  these  brave  children, 
but  they  soon  disappeared,  perhaps  confined  to  their 
stateroom  by  sea-sickness. 

The  young  girl  who  had  so  kindly  given  her  cap  to 
the  little  Japanese  belonged  to  a  group  of  students  of 
Stanford,  the  university  founded  in  the  environs  of 
San  Francisco  by  the  Senator  of  that  name  in  memory 
of  his  son,  and  endowed  by  him  and  his  wife  with  the 
enormous  sum  of  thirty  million  dollars.  There  were 
on  board  twelve  men  and  four  girls,  students  hastening 
there  for  the  re-opening,  those  arriving  late  not  being 
admitted.  I  greatly  enjoyed  talking  with  them  and 
(why  should  I  not  acknowledge  it'?)  sharing  their 
games,  and  even  teaching  them  some  French  ones  that 
had  considerable  success.  To  repay  me,  they  sang 
their  university  hymn  in  chorus,  and  this  led  to  an 
improvised  concert,  each  one  doing  his  share.  Our 
circle  grew,  and  the  captain  himself,  who  had  drawn 
near,  gave  us  a  comic  lament  of  a  vessel  lost  amidst 
the  Polar  ice.  The  fictitious  song  borrowed  from  him 
an  amusing  air  of  reality,  for  we  knew  he  had  many 
a  time  sailed  as  far  as  Nome  at  the  entrance  to  Behring 
Straits,  and  it  was  not  difficult  to  imagine  him  being 
carried  away  by  the  ice  floes  of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  His 
company  organized  a  regular  service  for  the  different 
ports  of  Alaska,  and  each  year  this  Norway  of  America 


240     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

receives  crowds  of  visitors  attracted  there,  as  to  the  real 
Norway,  by  the  marvels  of  capricious  fiords,  mountains 
encircled  with  multicolored  clouds,  glaciers  bathed  by 
the  sea,  great  pine  forests,  and  the  midnight  sun. 

And  apropros  of  this,  we  must  get  accustomed  to  the 
fact  that  henceforth  Americans,  though  continuing, 
happily  for  us,  to  seek  in  the  Old  World  their  impres 
sions  of  history  and  art,  will  find  at  home  the 
magnificent  scenery  that  used  to  contribute  toward  at 
tracting  them  to  our  shores :  they  now  have  their  Alps 
in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  their  Cote  d'  Azur  in  southern 
California;  they  have  in  Arizona  a  desert,  surrounded 
by  prodigies,  that  is  quite  equal  to  the  North  of  Africa; 
in  Alaska  they  have  a  Scandinavia  as  beautiful  as  ours, 
and  over  which  waves  their  own  flag.  Without  leaving 
home  they  can  journey  from  the  polar  regions  to  the 
tropics,  and  choose  between  the  land  of  ever-changing 
flowers  and  that  of  unmelting  ice.  The  travelling 
agencies  who  boom  all  this  picturesqueness  are  justified 
in  their  energetic  appeal :  "  Europe  if  you  like,  but 
America  first." 

Let  us  dwell  a  little  on  Alaska,  the  most  recently 
known  of  these  interesting  lands.  Since  the  ocean 
offers  so  little  that  is  new  to  describe,  we  must  fall  back 
on  its  surroundings.  Pretexts  are  not  lacking  either, 
and  Alaska  will  seem  in  no  way  foreign  to  the  purpose. 
My  stateroom  companion  is  a  good-natured  artist  who 
has  just  spent  the  summer  there  and  who  is  bringing 
back  some  very  pretty  canvases,  recalling  those  of  Nor- 


ON   THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN        241 

man  by  their  dreamlike,  yet  natural,  coloring.  I  had, 
besides,  the  good  luck  to  meet  on  board  the  talented 
writer  Mrs.  Lily  Mary  Norton,  who  was  also  return 
ing  from  Alaska,  from  whom  I  obtained,  not  only  all 
the  accounts  I  could  wish  for,  but  photographs,  pamph 
lets,  and  even  a  review,  fke  Boston  Alaskan,  founded 
by  her  the  foregoing  year  to  make  known  to  Easterners 
the  opportunities  open  out  there  to  American 
initiative.* 

Alaska,  which  is  but  just  beginning  to  be  developed 
and  which  for  that  very  reason  deserves  a  place  in  this 
study  of  America  of  to-morrow,  has,  nevertheless,  be 
longed  to  the  United  States  for  the  last  forty-three 
years.  It  was  bought  from  Russia  in  1867  for  $7,200,- 
ooo.  Perhaps  this  sum  was  the  equivalent  of  what  its 
first  possessors  could  make  out  of  it;  but  it  stands  in 
no  proportion  to  the  profit  Americans  have  realized 
there:  already  in  1903  Alaska  had  yielded,  in  pelts  and 
salmon  alone,  one  hundred  two  million  dollars.  Even 
without  taking  into  account  the  gold  mines,  which  it 
was  impossible  to  foresee  would  prove  so  rich,  but 
which  in  the  ten  years  from  1895  to  1905  have  pro 
duced  the  handsome  total  of  $80,650,000,  it  is  evident 
that  Uncle  Sam  made  a  good  bargain  for  his  nephews 
when  he  acquired  for  such  a  sum  this  territory  equal  in 
extent  to  one-fifth  his  old  domain.  He  has  gotten  his 

*The  Boston  Alaskan  appeared  at  Boston  from  August,  1906,  to 
October,  1907,  when  it  had  to  suspend  publication  on  account  of  the 
financial  panic.  All  friends  of  American  expansion  hope  to  see  it  come 
to  life  again;  and  we  hope  that  some  among  them  will  do  what  is 
necessary  to  that  end, 


242     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

money  back  many  times  over.  Present  statistics  are 
not  quite  complete,  yet  they  show  that,  though  the  fur 
trade  has  fallen  off  because  all  the  labor  goes  to  the 
gold  mines,  and  though  the  influx  of  settlers  has  driven 
the  game  back  into  the  inaccessible  forests  and  moun 
tains,  other  profits,  on  the  contrary,  have  risen 
enormously;  the  gold  mined  in  1905  amounted  to 
$14,500,000,  and  salmon  fishing  yields  some  ten  mil 
lions  annually;  besides  which  it  is  expected  soon  the 
codfish  so  abundant  on  these  coasts  will  be  exploited. 
The  results  will  be  still  more  striking  if  compared 
with  the  small  population.  The  decennial  census  of 
1900  accounts  for  only  63,592  inhabitants  of  Alaska, 
of  whom  about  half  are  indigenous  and  half  immi 
grants;  but  the  latter  since  then,  must  have  increased, 
by  about  fifteen  thousand ;  for  the  increase  in  1 905  was 
three  thousand  five  hundred.  They  are  certainly 
splendid  pioneers.  Of  course  the  State  has  helped 
them;  it  has  developed  the  post  and  telegraph,  the 
trails,  roads,  and  all  means  of  communication ;  but  they 
help  themselves  too;  and  when  one  thinks  of  what 
Alaska  was  under  the  Russian  rule, —  nothing  but  al 
most  unexplored  shores  bordering  a  desert  devoid  of  all 
resources, —  one  cannot  refrain  from  admiring  the  in 
itiative  of  the  companies  and  individuals  who  have  al 
ready  built  so  many  charming  little  towns,  opened  up 
so  many  accessible  harbors,  organized  such  productive 
fisheries,  developed  the  art  of  forestry  and  created  that 
of  mining,  attracted  crowds  of  tourists,  constructed 
hundreds  of  miles  of  railroads,  and  launched  a  fleet  of 


ON   THE   PACIFIC  OCEAN        243 

as  many  as  thirty-two  steamers  on  rivers  like  the 
Yukon  and  the  Tanana  that  are  frozen  three-quarters 
of  the  year. 

One  must  not  think  of  Alaska  as  peopled  only  by 
gold-hunters,  though  one  may  admire  their  heroism 
against  the  terrible  cold,  and  their  spirit  of  organiza 
tion,  which  has  replaced  the  violent  disorder  of  the 
early  days.  The  greater  part  of  the  colony  is  made  up 
of  fishers,  traders,  foresters,  pelt-hunters,  and  even 
farmers.  At  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  of  1904  the 
seeds  and  hay  grown  in  Alaska  received  an  award ;  dur 
ing  the  Winter  of  1907  the  restaurants  of  Rampart, 
which  is  one  degree  below  the  Arctic  Circle,  furnished 
potatoes  grown  in  the  vicinity;  an  effort  is  now  being 
made  to  improve  the  pasturage  and  develop  market 
gardening;  Scotch  cattle  have  been  introduced  and 
have  done  well,  they  can  be  left  six  months  in  the  open 
after  having  been  stabled  for  six  months  and  fed  on 
home-grown  hay.  Some  of  these  experiments  are  due 
to  the  initiative  of  the  Government;  but  the  settlers 
do  not  let  themselves  be  outdone,  and  some  are  known 
to  have  earned  large  profits  from  poultry,  market  gar 
dening,  and  fruit-raising,  and  the  sale  of  milk  and 
butter.  And  it  is  clear  that  agriculture  in  Alaska  is  in 
its  infancy.  Conservative  estimates  recognize  100,000 
square  miles  of  arable  land,  and  arable  under  the  same 
conditions  as  Finland.  The  two  regions  lie  in  the 
same  latitude  and  both  are  submitted  to  the  influence 
of  a  current  of  warm  water;  there  are  some  islands, 
such  as  Middleton,  where  whole  winters  pass  without 


244     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

snow,  and  it  may  be  said  in  general  that  the  cold  is  but 
moderate  on  the  coast,  and  sharp  but  bearable  for  a 
good  distance  inland.  Admitting  that  Alaska  is  much 
less  favored  than  Finland,  which  easily  supports  its 
three  million  inhabitants,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
its  coast  line,  which  would,  if  straightened  out,  be  long 
enough  to  go  round  the  world  at  the  equator,  abounds 
in  valuable  fish,  and  that  its  mines,  not  of  gold  only 
but  of  all  sorts,  would  alone  assure  it  a  brilliant  future. 
Business  and  work  progress  at  such  a  rate  that  from 
June,  1905,  to  June,  1906,  in  the  exchange  with  the 
United  States,  importations  increased  28  per  cent, 
while  the  exportation  of  gold  and  silver  rose  39.3  per 
cent. 

This  information  is  not  given  to  the  end  of  sending 
young  Frenchmen,  anxious  to  settle  on  new  ground,  all 
the  way  to  Alaska;  it  is  a  bit  too  distant,  and  they 
would  feel  far  from  home  there.  But  are  not  these  the 
very  reasons  to  recommend  the  trip  to  travellers  in 
search  of  new  impressions  and  of  scenery  that  is  not 
found  in  every  album?  Nothing  could  be  easier  than 
this  fine  excursion  on  the  comfortable  boats  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  Company,  and  our  pleasant  Spokane  has 
crossed  from  Seattle  to  Sitka  several  times  this  year. 
The  price  is  not  exorbitant,  one  hundred  dollars  for 
the  round  trip;  and  different  combinations  permit  one 
to  start  from  San  Francisco  or  Los  Angeles,  with  a 
choice  of  sea  or  land  as  far  as  Seattle.  Almost  imme 
diately  on  leaving  Victoria  the  scenery  is  enchanting, 
and  the  charm  increases  the  farther  north  one  goes. 


ON  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN        245 

There  is  nothing  to  fear  from  the  waves,  as  one  never 
leaves  the  fiords  or  straits,  which  are  inaccessible  to 
the  heavings  of  the  open  ocean.  The  temperature  is 
continuously  delightful,  protected  against  heat  by  the 
sea,  and  against  cold  by  the  sun  which,  even  when  it 
has  dipped  for  a  few  short  hours  below  the  horizon, 
leaves  a  glimmer  sufficient  to  unite  twilight  and  dawn. 
The  landscape  is  ideal,  and  ever  varied  by  the  shifting 
coloring  of  the  different  moments  of  the  day  and  night. 
How  could  it  ever  be  monotonous,  since  it  goes  from 
the  depths  of  the  sea  to  the  highest  summits'?  And 
from  the  sea  to  the  snow-clad  peaks  it  multiplies  green 
forests,  and  mountains,  gray,  violet,  and  blue,  fantas 
tic  rocks  that  resemble  cathedral  bell-towers  or  the  tur 
rets  of  a  stronghold,  entwined  with  clouds  as  with  a 
scarf;  cascades  so  high  that  they  are  lost  in  spray,  the 
giant  glaciers  that  allow  the  vessel  itself  to  approach 
close  to  them  or  that  send  little  fleets  of  icebergs  float 
ing  down  to  it.  And  amidst  all  this  dream  there  is  life 
everywhere :  fishes  playing  in  the  limpid  waters,  birds 
singing  in  the  trees;  and  sometimes,  flying  from  peak 
to  peak  above  the  deep  channel,  an  eagle  in  whom,  with 
its  majestic  wings,  the  Americans  salute  the  symbol  of 
their  sovereignty.  Night  nevertheless  holds  all  things 
enclasped  in  sleep  in  spite  of  the  persistent  lustre  of 
day,  and  one  discovers  that  night  consists  rather  of 
silence  than  of  darkness. 

No  less  striking  and  varied  is  the  image  of  itself 
that  humanity  has  drawn  in  this  marvellous  region. 
The  primitive  rubs  elbows  with  the  latest  progress,  and 


246     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

former  ages  meet  together  with  the  future ;  a  totem  pole 
stands  beside  electric  lamps,  and  wireless  telegraphy 
stretches  forth  its  antenna  by  the  wigwam  of  an  In 
dian  chief.  At  such  ports  as  Treadwell  and  Skagway, 
one  admires  the  activity  of  the  Americans  who  are 
loading  the  precious  ingots  on  cargo  boats;  at  a  town 
like  Sitka,  founded  more  than  a  century  ago  by  the 
Russians,  one  enjoys  the  picturesque  buildings,  and 
one  reverently  visits  the  Orthodox  church  where  a  Ma 
donna  by  St.  Luke  is  venerated.  It  is  impossible  to 
decide  whether  one  is  among  Byzantines,  Yankees,  or 
Eskimos.  Centuries  lose  their  perspective,  and  in  his 
tory  as  in  this  boreal  Nature,  all  distinctions  seem 
effaced  between  dawn  and  dusk. 

Perhaps  my  readers  will  think  that  for  a  man  who 
has  never  been  there,  I  do  a  great  deal  of  talking  about 
Alaska.  But,  apart  from  the  fact  that  a  visit  to  Nor 
way  had  predisposed  me  to  understand  it,  it  was  so  well 
described  to  me  by  Mrs.  Norton,  both  in  her  conversa 
tion  and  in  her  review,  and  so  well  sketched  in  the 
water-colors  of  my  artist  companion;  and  finally,  our 
captain,  who  returns  there  several  times  each  summer, 
told  about  it  so  strikingly,  that  I  have  not  felt  incom 
petent  to  speak  of  it  as  I  have  done. 

Allow  me  to  present  my  friend,  Captain  N.  E.  Cous 
ins;  for  we  have  become  friends.  The  sea  is  calm,  the 
weather  clear,  and  the  Pacific  the  least  crowded  of 
highways;  so  the  Spokane  troubles  its  commander  but 
little.  I  see  him,  not  only  at  table,  where  he  had  the 


ON   THE   PACIFIC   OCEAN        247 

kindness  to  place  me,  as  a  priest,  on  his  right,  but  I 
met  him  on  deck,  and  often  we  talk  in  his  stateroom 
where  he  wishes  me  to  make  myself  at  home ;  it  is  there, 
in  fact,  that  I  take  down  part  of  these  notes  when  he 
leaves  me  for  an  inspection.  I  told  him  that  I  would 
sketch  his  portrait;  although  he  did  not  look  as  though 
he  believed  it,  I  shall  not  play  traitor.  He  is  the  ideal 
type  of  gentleness  and  strength.  As  good-natured  as 
a  child  he  goes  around  everywhere  with  a  broad  smile 
on  his  clean-shaven  face,  finding  a  pleasant  word  for 
every  one.  Tall  and  broad,  enormous,  a  regular  giant, 
he  often  jokes  about  his  size.  Meeting  a  lady  cut  out 
on  the  same  pattern,  young  enough  and  pretty  enough 
to  take  it  all  in  good  part,  he  said  to  her:  "  We  had 
better  not  both  stand  on  the  same  side  of  the  ship,  for 
fear  of  the  equilibrium."  Every  time  he  comes  up  to 
me  and  places  his  hand  on  my  shoulder  I  am  afraid  he 
is  going  to  crush  me.  I  have  already  said  that,  one 
morning,  when  passing  a  group  where  I  was  amusing 
myself  with  the  students,  he  stopped  and  unceremoni 
ously  sang  us  a  comic  lament.  But  his  good  nature  is 
far  from  diminishing  his  prestige ;  one  can  see  from  the 
attitude  of  the  sailors  in  his  presence  that  he  has  his 
crew  well  in  hand.  His  men  know  what  confidence 
they  can  place  in  him ;  for  this  overgrown,  gentle  child, 
is  at  the  same  time  a  brave  captain,  and  if  need  be,  a 
hero.  Chance  one  day  called  on  him  for  first-class 
qualities,  and  he  showed  them  to  the  applause  of  all 
United  States  sailors  and  to  the  enthusiasm  of  public 
opinion.  The  affair  deserves  being  described;  it  was  a 


248     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

question  of  nothing  less  than  a  fire  at  sea,  the  most 
appealing  perhaps  of  all  disasters,  for  it  leaves  no  alter 
native  but  the  flames  or  the  waves,  two  scourges 
equally  disdainful  of  puny  human  efforts. 

The  steamer  Queen,  leaving  San  Francisco  for  Seat 
tle  February  25,  1904,  was  opposite  the  coast  of 
Oregon  and  about  thirty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  wrhen,  at  half-past  four  o'clock  of  the  twen 
ty-eighth,  the  officer  of  the  watch  signalled  to  the  cap 
tain,  our  friend  Cousins:  "  Fire  aboard!  "  In  less  than 
half  a  minute  the  captain  had  jumped  from  his  berth, 
rung  the  alarm,  and  commanded :  "  All  hands  on  deck !  " 
The  fire  had  started,  no  one  knew  how,  in  a  stateroom 
near  the  saloon.  Yet  the  watchman  between  decks,  as 
well  as  the  lookout  on  the  upper  deck,  had  signalled  at 
four  o'clock  that  all  was  well,  and  at  five  minutes  past 
four  an  officer  had  passed  there  without  noticing  either 
fire  or  smoke.  The  sea  was  running  high,  and  a  stiff 
northwester  was  blowing,  which  so  fanned  the  flames 
that  in  a  few  moments  they  were  escaping  by  the  port 
holes  of  the  saloon  and  pushing  their  terrific  tongues 
thirty  feet  high  into  the  darkness.  The  captain  issued 
his  commands  with  so  much  calm  that  he  imparted  his 
sang-froid  to  the  others.  In  spite  of  the  invasion  of 
the  smoke  into  the  engine  rooms  the  engineers  worked 
at  the  pumps  with  the  same  regularity  as  though  it  had 
been  a  simple  drill ;  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that 
they  were  wearing  themselves  out  in  vain  effort  and 
that  there  was  no  chance  of  saving  the  ship.  Abaft, 
it  was  a  blazing  furnace.  The  captain  distributed  life- 


ON   THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN        249 

belts  to  the  hundred  and  forty  passengers,  and  let  down 
four  of  the  eight  lifeboats;  three  seamen  took  their 
places  in  each  one,  to  starboard  in  the  lee  of  the 
steamer.  They  lowered  the  women  and  children,  about 
sixty  of  them.  The  fourth  long-boat  was  knocked 
against  the  poop  and  broken,  but  all  but  two  of  its  pas 
sengers  were  saved  by  the  other  three  boats.  The  other 
victims,  who  amounted  to  twelve,  were  all  members 
of  the  crew,  so  much  self-denial  did  they  show.  The 
same  unselfishness  was  shown  by  the  passengers  them 
selves.  "  Among  the  hundred  and  forty  persons  of  all 
ages  and  conditions,"  the  captain  told  me,  "  not  one, 
man,  woman,  or  child,  tried  to  save  himself  at  the  ex 
pense  of  any  one  else,  nor  gave  way  to  fear,  folly,  or 
egotism.  Men  were  to  be  seen  carrying  their  wives 
and  children  to  the  lifeboat,  giving  them  their  last  in 
structions,  and  quietly  returning  to  take  part  in  fight 
ing  the  fire." 

So  much  courage  and  coolness  deserved  a  reward. 
The  wind  having  died  down,  they  succeeded,  after  four 
hours  of  superhuman  effort,  in  mastering  the  flames; 
and  at  half  past  eight  the  siren  called  the  long-boats 
back  to  the  ship.  At  half -past  ten  all  the  passengers, 
except  the  two  already  mentioned,  were  once  more  on 
board,  and  the  Queen,  looking  almost  like  a  wreck,  con 
tinued,  with  difficulty  but  without  further  accident,  on 
her  way  to  Port  Townsend  which  she  reached  that 
evening.  The  captain,  who  had  held  out  until  then, 
had  only  enough  strength  to  explain  the  accident  in  a 
couple  of  words,  and  he  fell  exhausted;  but  his  power- 


250     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

ful  will  had  sustained  two  hundred  human  beings, 
during  nearly  fifteen  hours,  at  the  highest  degree  of 
heroism.  The  Queen  was  towed  to  Seattle  the  next 
day,  and  then  repaired  at  San  Francisco.  The  eighth 
day  of  June,  of  the  same  year,  she  was  relaunched. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  the  passengers  were 
unanimous  in  their  expressions  of  admiration  and  grat 
itude.  As  for  the  investigation  committee  that  was  ap 
pointed  to  examine  into  the  case,  it  decided  that 
the  conduct  of  Captain  Cousins  and  his  crew  was 
beyond  all  praise.  He  alone  in  telling  of  that  terrible 
day,  seemed  to  think  what  he  had  done  was  quite 
simple.  The  emotion  which  his  recital  had  aroused  in 
me  seemed  to  touch  him  nevertheless.  Seeing  tears  in 
my  eyes,  he  said  without  hesitation:  "  Look  at  the  pict 
ure  above  my  desk  that  they  gave  me  of  the  rescued 
ship.  You  will  do  me  the  favor  to  take  it  with  you  to 
France.  It  will  recall  to  you  America  and  our  friend 
ship."  As  may  be  imagined,  I  did  my  best  not  to  ac 
cept  such  a  present,  it  seemed  to  me  a  cruel  profanation 
to  separate  the  man  and  the  souvenir.  Seeing  the  un- 
successfulness  of  my  refusal,  I  went  so  far  as  to  plead 
the  material  question  of  lack  of  room  in  my  little 
valise.  "  That  is  true,"  he  said,  "  I  will  have  it  taken 
out  of  the  frame."  He  gave  the  order,  and,  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  later,  I  found  the  valued  painting  wrapped 
up  in  my  stateroom.  And  I  did  not  dare  to  return  it  to 
the  hero,  who  should  have  kept  it,  for  fear  he  would 
misunderstand  my  feeling;  but  never,  from  any  jour 
ney,  have  I  brought  back  a  more  precious  object. 


ON   THE   PACIFIC   OCEAN        251 

I  begin  to  catch  glimpses,  on  board  the  Spokane,  of 
the  more  agreeable  characteristics  of  Westerners.  He 
has  his  faults,  the  Westerner,  and  generally  does  not 
offend  by  excess  of  refinement;  but  refinement  is  not  a 
synonym  for  goodness,  cordiality,  nor  even  for  deli 
cacy.  I  know  of  no  place  in  the  world  where,  under  a 
somewhat  rough  exterior,  hearts  are  more  sympathetic 
and  generous.  You  are  admitted  there  without  intro 
ductions,  and  if  it  is  seen  that  you  reciprocate  his  sym 
pathy,  there  is  nothing  he  will  not  do  for  you,  or  say 
to  you  to  express  his  confidence.  Every  one  shows  him 
self  as  he  is,  from  the  very  outset,  taking  as  small  pains 
to  conceal  his  good  qualities  as  his  bad  ones.  He  is  in 
deed,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  a  man  of  nature,  or 
if  this  sounds  equivocal,  let  us  say  at  least  a  natural 
man.  Unless  one  be  too  surly  oneself,  one  can  easily 
become  acquainted  with  whomsoever  one  will.  No 
doubt  this  characteristic  is  much  less  pronounced  in  the 
large  cities  of  the  Pacific  coast  than  in  the  new-fledged 
villages  of  Arizona,  where  one  man  accosts  another 
with :  "  I  am  So-and-so,  who  are  you4?  "  But  it  may  be 
stated  as  a  fact  that  from  the  point  of  view  of  sim 
plicity  of  manners,  there  is,  between  the  West  and  the 
East,  the  same  difference,  as  between  the  latter  and  the 
most  ceremonious  countries  of  Europe.  There  is  no 
denying  that  most  of  these  have  their  charm,  but  the 
simple  way  has  its  advantages  too,  —  and  it  is  so 
restful ! 

For  instance,  nothing  commands  greater  respect  than 
reserve,  reticence,  and  the  exquisite  modesty  of  the 


252     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

proud  heart  that  keeps  its  fine  emotions  to  itself.  But 
it  is  not  bad  either  to  let  them  expand  irrespective  of 
every  one  and  everything.  The  wife  of  a  fellow  trav 
eller,  speaking  of  the  San  Francisco  earthquake,  de 
scribed  to  me,  with  no  regard  for  false  modesty,  the 
courage  of  her  compatriots  and  her  own  coolness 
throughout  the  great  catastrophe;  but  she  added  with 
equal  ease:  "  Yet  when  I  saw  my  beautiful  St.  Mary's 
on  fire,  where  I  prayed  every  Sunday,  I  could  not  keep 
from  crying  " ;  and  so  saying,  she  began  anew.  I  told 
before  Captain  Cousins  the  story  of  the  sinking  of  the 
Lyon,  the  steamer  running  a  few  years  ago  between 
Dieppe  and  Newhaven,  and  which  collided  in  a  heavy 
fog  with  the  one  coming  in  the  opposite  direction;  I 
told  how  the  captain,  after  having,  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  of  splendid  work,  transferred  all  the  passengers 
and  the  crew  to  the  other  vessel,  arrived  there  himself 
the  last,  just  at  the  moment  when  his  own  was  found 
ering,  and  stoically  saluted  it  in  its  death.  The  hero  of 
the  Queen  disaster  listened  to  the  end  of  my  tale  and 
silently  wiped  away  two  big  tears  that  were  rolling 
down  his  bronzed  cheeks. 

This  facility  of  acquaintance  and  intercourse  greatly 
favors  the  task  of  the  traveller  in  search  of  instructive 
observations.  These  come  to  him  from  all  quarters, 
and  even  when  he  is  the  least  on  the  look-out  for  them. 
I  was  talking  with  a  young  girl  from  Seattle  on  her 
way  to  Stanford,  and  she  was  telling  me  of  her  home 
life.  I  learned  that  they  had  for  cook  a  well-educated 
Japanese  who  is  here  to  study  the  English  language 


ON   THE  PACIFIC   OCEAN        253 

and  the  customs  of  America;  he  also  intends  to  earn 
enough  to  go  to  Harvard.  He  is  already  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Tokio.  He  writes  for  Japanese 
papers  and  magazines. 

"  Is  he  a  good  cook?  "  I  asked. 

"  Not  very,"  she  replied,  smilingly,  "  he  reads  and 
writes  too  much."  And  this  small  detail,  and  not  such 
a  rare  one,  says  volumes  on  the  energy  with  which  the 
little  Japanese  are  raising  themselves  to  the  height  of 
our  civilization. 

From  quite  another  quarter  I  gathered  some  data 
that  cannot  be  put  aside  while  discussing  the  question 
of  the  assimilation  of  the  Jews.  When  one  considers 
that  the  United  States  receives  annually  as  many  as  all 
France  possesses,  one  will  realize  the  vitality  of  the 
question.  It  would  soon  be  solved  if  all  Jews  re 
sembled  the  one  I  met  on  the  Spokane,  and  if  the  proof 
of  patriotism  of  which  he  told  me  could  be  made  gen 
eral.  "  During  the  war  with  Spain,"  he  told  me,  "  two 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  Jews  enlisted  in  a  single  vol 
unteer  regiment  at  San  Francisco."  He  himself  is 
from  Baden,  and  served  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War, 
but  he  bears  us  no  malice.  He  emigrated  shortly  after, 
and  is  now,  like  all  his  family,  thoroughly  American. 
Nothing  would  have  given  me  the  least  suspicion  of 
his  origin,  had  he  not  told  me  all  about  himself  with 
the  confident  frankness  that  reigns  among  us  all. 

It  would  be  a  great  exaggeration  to  state  the  Jewish 
question  in  the  same  terms  as  the  problems  of  the  black 
and  yellow  races.  Although  the  sons  of  Israel  already 


254     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

number  eight  hundred  thousand  in  New  York,  and 
perhaps  two  million  in  the  whole  country,  they  have 
so  far  given  rise  to  no  special  difficulties;  and  though 
it  may  seem  too  short  a  time  to  have  formed  a  definite 
and  legitimate  opinion,  still  the  experiment  would  seem 
to  justify  the  hope  of  a  slow  and  peaceful  assimilation. 
An  incident  occurred,  nevertheless,  at  the  end  of  1908, 
which  should  impress  on  the  Jews  the  necessity  for  a 
little  modesty  and  moderation.  Going  on  the  principle 
of  the  religious  neutrality  of  public  schools,  they  did 
not  hesitate  to  demand  (and  the  School  Board  of  New 
York  had  acceded  to  their  request)  the  suppression  of 
the  Christmas  hymns  sung  by  the  children  in  honor  of 
the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ.  Coming,  as  it  did,  at  the 
moment  when  the  religious  feelings  of  Americans  had 
already  been  wounded  by  Mr.  Roosevelt's  recent  meas 
ure  to  cut  the  motto,  "  In  God  we  trust,"  off  the  na 
tional  currency, —  a  measure  repealed  a  few  months 
later  by  the  House  of  Representatives  with  an  over 
powering  majority  of  255  to  5,* — the  suppression  of 
the  Christmas  hymns  excited  the  greatest  indignation 
among  Christians  of  every  denomination;  it  provoked 
excited  meetings,  protests  in  which  threats  were  not 
spared;  in  short,  such  an  expression  of  opinion  that  the 
board  hastened  to  recall  it,  and  American  children  con 
tinued  in  all  the  schools,  to  sing  the  birth  of  the  Saviour 
of  the  World.  The  more  intelligent  Jews  got  around  it 


*Mr.  Roosevelt  had  protested  that  he  acted  thus  purely  from  respect 
for  the  sacred  formula,  which  was  quite  appropriate  on  the  pediment 
of  national  monuments,  but  not  at  all  on  coins. 


ON  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN        255 

by  saying  that,  after  all,  it  was  rendering  homage  to 
one  of  their  race. 

But  if  I  remember  rightly,  we  were  steaming  on  the 
calm  waters  of  the  great  ocean.  Already  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  fourth  day,  our  vessel  had  set  her  course 
slightly  inland,  and  we  could  distinguish  little  by  little 
a  line  of  blue  mountains,  while  behind  us  the  sun  set 
into  the  sea.  It  had  risen  over  the  Far  West,  it  was 
setting  toward  the  Far  East,  as  though  it  were  harder 
to  change  words  around  than  the  things  of  Nature 
herself. 

Slowly,  since  it  will  be  impossible  to  land  before  to 
morrow,  we  advance  toward  the  continent.  It  is  nearly 
ten  o'clock.  On  a  level  with  the  horizon  the  moon,  at 
first  hidden  behind  black  clouds,  gradually  soars  free; 
brighter  and  brighter  she  gleams,  like  a  rising  fire,  and 
someone  from  Stanford  said  to  me,  "  It  reminds  me  of 
the  great  catastrophe.  We  could  see  it,  sixteen  miles 
away, —  at  first  the  sky  growing  red,  then  the  clouds 
of  smoke,  and  at  last  the  flames.  A  friend  of  mine  who 
arrived  from  Yokohama  the  very  day  of  the  earth 
quake  described  in  moving  terms  the  terrible  spectacle 
that  met  his  eyes  when  his  ship  approached  the  city :  the 
din  of  explosion,  the  pungent  odor  of  smoke,  the  blind 
ing  blaze  of  the  immense  fiery  furnace,  and,  more 
terrible  still,  the  downcast  silence  of  his  travelling 
companions  seeking  in  this  nightmare  the  place  of  their 
homes  and  their  families.* 

*"  Paysages  et  Silhouettes  Exotiques,"  by  George  Roulleaux,  Dug- 
age.  (Plon,  1908,  pp.  240-248.) 


256     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

How  different  from  the  vision  before  us !  While  we 
glide  slowly  into  the  beautiful  bay,  the  moon  has  risen 
above  the  city,  and  with  its  velvet  light  illumines  all 
the  vast  horizon.  And  as  it  is  just  ahead  of  us  to  the 
east,  it  actually  happens  that  its  reflection,  a  long 
wake  over  the  water,  crosses  the  entrance  to  the  Golden 
Gate,  and  comes  to  the  very  prow  of  our  ship,  a  silver 
cable  to  draw  us  to  the  fairy  city.  Yes,  we  literally 
glide  through  the  serene  night  on  the  moonbeams. 
Around  us  the  pale  blue  of  the  peaceful  hills;  before 
us,  San  Francisco,  so  beautiful  and  so  desolate  with 
the  splotches  of  light  that  indicate  streets  preserved  or 
rebuilt,  and  blotches  of  darkness  marking  the  traces  of 
death.  At  last  the  ship  comes  to  a  standstill  as  if,  like 
us,  worn  out  with  so  many  impressions,  and,  motionless, 
it  sleeps  at  anchor. 


CHAPTER  XII 
SAN  FRANCISCO 

INVITATION    TO    A    DESTROYED    CITY SAN    FRANCISCO 

AFTER  THE   EARTHQUAKE CATASTROPHE  AND  RES 
URRECTION A    CALIFORNIAN    MONK TOO    MANY 

LECTURES THE       FRENCH       COLONY CATHOLIC 

SECRET  SOCIETY  '.  THE  "  KNIGHTS  OF  COLUMBUS  " 

AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA.       RELIGION  AND 

PUBLIC      INSTRUCTION THE      ENVIRONS      OF      SAN 

FRANCISCO SAN     RAFAEL    AND     MENLO     PARK 

MUNICIPAL  CORRUPTION ARREST  OF  THE    MAYOR 

AND  THE   CHIEF   OF   POLICE LABOR  ORGANIZATION 

-LABOR    DAY EMPLOYERS     AND    THE    UNIONS 

SOCIALISM    IN    THE   UNITED   STATES. 

/"~\F  all  the  readers  of  these  notes,  I  am  perhaps  the 
^-^  only  one  that  remembers  what  was  said  in  the  sec 
ond  chapter  about  the  dual  personality  I  brought  from 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic :  a  former  seminarist,  who 
fears  the  unknown  and  great  distances;  a  traveller  too 
anxious  to  know  the  universe  and  always  disposed,  if 
it  depended  on  himself  alone,  to  go  round  the  world 
to  observe  a  fact  that  might  throw  light  on  the  social 
or  religious  progress  of  humanity. 

It  was  certainly  the  spirit  of  the  seminarist  which 

257 


258     AMERICA   OF  TO-MORROW 

won  out,  without  debate,  one  April  morning  in  1906, 
when  I  was  quietly  enjoying  the  Easter  holidays  with 
some  good  friends  in  Touraine.  The  postman  came 
with  a  Paris  paper  and  a  letter  from  San  Francisco, 
which  threw  the  situation  completely  into  confusion, 
to  the  benefit  of  the  spirit  of  travel.  The  newspaper 
announced  that  the  day  before,  an  earthquake,  followed 
by  frightful  fires,  had  destroyed  the  greater  part  of 
San  Francisco,  and  that  the  inhabitants,  without  loss 
of  courage,  were  already  planning  to  rebuild  on  the 
ruins.  The  letter,  posted  two  weeks  before  in  the  un 
fortunate  city,  invited  me  in  pressing  terms  to  pay  a 
visit  there.  My  correspondent  was  one  of  those  un 
known  friends  whom  all  writers  have  the  privilege  of 
possessing  here  and  there  in  the  world,  and  the  discov 
ery  of  whom  would,  if  necessary,  console  them  for  the 
prejudices  they  may  unintentionally  have  aroused. 
The  letter  was  signed  "Henry  Stark,"  and  came  from 
a  young  Paulist  who,  having  read  "In  the  Land  of  the 
Strenuous  Life,"  was  very  anxious  that  the  author 
should,  in  his  next  book,  speak  of  San  Francisco  and 
the  splendid  land  of  California.  The  affectionate  con 
fidence  breathed  throughout  this  invitation  was  in 
itself  tempting  and,  added  to  the  news  of  the  disaster, 
daily  more  poignant,  it  promptly  triumphed  over  my 
timidity;  it  is  far  from  commonplace  to  be  invited  to  a 
city  no  longer  in  existence.  I  replied  to  the  letter  say 
ing  that,  already  inclined  to  return  to  the  United  States 
the  following  year,  I  had  allowed  myself  to  be  per 
suaded  by  this  friendly  advance,  and  had  inscribed  San 


SAN   FRANCISCO  259 

Francisco  on  my  itinerary;  I  added  that  we  could  ar 
range  later  the  date  and  other  details. 

But  to  make  arrangements  one  must  correspond,  and 
it  was  quite  possible  that  the  home  of  my  new  friend, 
if  not  he  himself,  had  disappeared  in  the  catastrophe. 
He,  happily,  had  survived,  although  his  quarter  had 
been  quite  wiped  out.  Yet  my  letter  was  not  lost. 
Posted  on  the  twenty-third  of  April,  it  was  delivered 
on  the  fifteenth  of  October.  It  had  before  that  found 
the  temporary  asylum  where  the  Paulists  had  taken  ref 
uge  ;  but  Father  Stark  had  undertaken  a  tour  of  missions 
and  retreats  in  Alaska,  British  Columbia,  Illinois,  and 
New  York  State.  On  returning  from  this  little  trip 
of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  miles,  he  wrote  me  that  the 
Bishop  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  having  asked  him  to 
come  there  to  preach,  his  address  for  the  next  few 
months  would  be  at  Honolulu.  It  was  by  conversing 
in  this  strictly  American  manner  that  little  by  little 
we  came  to  an  agreement  to  meet  at  the  end  of  August 
and  even  to  give  a  lecture  on  the  twenty-ninth  for  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Paulist  church.  And  that  is  why 
I  was  landing  at  San  Francisco  the  very  day  before 
the  date  set,  at  an  unearthly  early  hour. 

Immediately  I  received  the  impression  —  to  be  con 
firmed  by  everything  I  saw  —  of  a  city,  so  to  speak,  in 
a  state  of  resurrection.  The  sleep  from  which  I  saw 
her  arising,  was  not  that  of  a  night,  but  of  death  itself. 
The  docks  and  warehouses  on  the  harbor  were  but 
shells,  temporary  shelters  from  which  here  and  there, 
arose  the  beginnings  of  new  walls.  Leaving  the  sheds, 


260     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

the  wooden  storehouses,  the  piles  of  merchandise 
stacked  in  the  open  air,  I  crossed  a  part  of  the  business 
section  where  fields  of  rubbish  and  dust  alternated  with 
smoky  ruins,  trenches  dug  for  new  foundations,  iron 
framework  already  being  covered  with  bricks  and 
cement,  and  often  new  twenty-story  buildings, 
audaciously  placarding  themselves  as  "earthquake 
proof." 

In  the  soft  fresh  air,  beneath  a  clear  sky,  I  next  ar 
rived  at  the  foot  of  a  hill  which  I  scaled  in  a  quick- 
running  street  car  along  California  Street,  which  had 
been  completely  repaired.  At  first  I  met  with  nothing 
but  empty  lots  still  covered  with  ashes,  and  white 
frame  houses,  which  one  realized  were  put  up  tempo 
rarily.  Overlooking  the  desolate  setting  there  was 
nothing  but  a  superb  and  scarcely  finished  hotel  and, 
to  the  right  a  cloven  tower  clinging  to  some  roofless 
ruined  walls.  It  was  the  former  church  of  the  Paulist 
Fathers.  Under  its  shadow  they  had  raised  a  poor 
little  wooden  chapel  and  a  still  poorer  house,  wishing 
to  husband  all  their  resources  for  the  final  rebuilding. 
The  only  luxury  consisted  in  two  marble  statues  that 
had  arrived  shortly  before  the  fire  and  that  the  Cus 
tom  House  had  fortunately  detained.  Over  the  High 
Altar,  was  a  photograph  of  the  Sistine  Madonna,  and 
I  must  say  that  in  this  wooden  church,  the  inexpensive 
reproduction  of  Raphael's  masterpiece  produced  a  more 
artistic  and  religious  effect  than  many  a  modern  pic 
ture  or  statue  in  basilicas  rolling  in  wealth. 

It  was  there  that  I  stopped  and  that  I  was  welcomed 


SAN  FRANCISCO  261 

with  perhaps  the  most  modest,  but  certainly  the  most 
sincere  hospitality  offered  me  anywhere  on  my  trip, 
Peoria  excepted.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  legend 
ary  splendor  of  California  fruits  would  have  remained 
a  beautiful  myth  to  me  had  it  not  been  for  the  few 
meals  I  had  to  take  in  town,  but  this  would  certainly 
have  been  a  small  price  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  liv 
ing  in  brotherly  love  with  the  three  Paulists  of  the 
house,  as  though  I  had  always  made  one  of  their 
community.* 

Father  Stark  called  me  his  friend  at  the  end  of  five 
minutes,  and  I  saw  how  much  can  be  expected  from  re 
ligious  gentleness  and  modesty  united  to  the  vigor  and 
expansive  frankness  of  the  Westerner.  Quite  humble 
in  regard  to  himself,  he  was  superbly  proud  of  his  city 
and  his  State.  He  was  born  in  California,  in  San 
Francisco  even,  and  he  would  not  allow  that  there  was 
anywhere  else  in  the  world  a  place  as  beautiful,  and  I 
myself,  charmed  as  much  by  his  personality  as  by  the 
blue  skies  and  soft  climate,  was  far  from  contradicting 
him.  To  be  native  bora,  even  of  foreign  parents,  is 
a  rare  nobility  in  these  new  countries,  and  those  who 
rejoice  in  this  privilege  form  clubs  and  societies  to 
which  a  "  new  man  "  would  no  more  be  admitted  than 
a  ruined  parvenu  to  the  aristocratic  salons  of  Paris  or 

*The  Superior,  Father  Henry  H.  Wyman,  was  away  travelling  at 
this  time,  and  it  was  a  great  regret  to  me  not  to  meet  this  saintly  mis 
sionary.  He  was  born  in  1849,  in  Massachusetts,  and  took  his  degree 
at  Brown  University,  Providence.  He  wrote  an  excellent  book  of 
apologetics,  "  Certainty  in  Religion."  Admired  by  every  one,  he  was 
chosen  in  the  beginning  of  1909,  chaplain  to  the  State  Senate  of  Cali 
fornia,  the  first  Catholic  priest  to  be  appointed  to  this  post. 


262     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

Rome.*  If  many  Calif ornians  resemble  physically 
and  morally  this  tall  young  priest  with  the  black  hair, 
and  powerful  muscles,  the  voice  of  liquid  gold,  the  soft 
heart,  and  the  open  mind,  then  the  race  developing  here 
by  the  mixture  with  so  many  others,  will  be  a  strong 
and  beautiful  race. 

Father  Stark  wanted  me  to  be  happy  because,  he 
said,  he  loved  me;  because,  besides,  or  especially,  my 
next  book  must  speak  well  of  San  Francisco;  and  fi 
nally,  because  the  receipts  of  the  lecture  would  help  a 
little  toward  the  rebuilding  of  his  church.  Nor  did 
he  neglect  anything  that  might  contribute  toward  the 
success  of  the  meeting.  It  was  posted  everywhere. 
Prospectuses  were  handed  around  in  profusion,  giving 
a  list  of  eminent  patrons,  headed  by  the  Archbishop. 

Ladies  who  were  interested,  and  the  principal  mer 
chants,  consented  to  sell  tickets  for  a  commission.  Re 
porters  crowded  our  tiny  parlor  to  photograph  the 
lecturer  and  to  ask  his  opinion  of  our  Separation  law, 
of  America,  and  of  the  vine-growing  crisis  in  the  south 
of  France.  If  to  all  this  be  added  that  a  few  visits 
were  considered  indispensable,  and  that  I  wished  in 
spite  of  all  this  bustle,  to  adapt  my  notes  to  my  next 
day's  audience,  it  will  be  evident  that  by  the  evening 
of  such  a  day  my  nervous  system  had  not  retained 
much  of  the  restful  and  pacific  effects  of  the  crossing. 

The  walk  on  which  Father  Stark  took  me,  after  din 
ner,  along  California  Street  was  certainly  not  designed 

*There  is  the  Society  of  Native  Sons  and  that  of  Native  Daughters 
of  the  Golden  West. 


SAN  FRANCISCO  263 

to  calm  me,  and  I  do  not  remember  a  more  impressive 
one.  Our  house  was  half-way  up  the  hill,  and  hardly 
had  I  left  our  door  when  I  had  before  me  literally  a 
diagram  of  the  catastrophe.  Compact  islets  of  light 
marked  the  rare  quarters  that  had  escaped;  great  black 
voids,  the  parts  completely  destroyed  and  still  in  ruins; 
and  a  few  sparse  and  irregular  lights,  the  new  build 
ings  arising  from  destruction.  My  companion  pointed 
out  to  me  the  vast  expanse  where,  for  four  days  and 
four  nights  the  fire  had  raged.  Beside  us  rose  the 
broken  walls  of  the  Paulist  church  with  two  or  three 
windows  outlined  against  the  dark  blue  sky,  and  the 
crumbling  tower  which  seemed  a  ruin  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  which  preserved  on  its  sundial  the  timely 
words  of  Ecclesiasticus :  "Son,  observe  the  time,  and 
fly  from  evil."  Yet  night,  with  her  soft  light  —  I  was 
going  to  say  with  her  velvety  hand  —  tempered  the 
horror  of  the  spectacle  and  enveloped  it  in  melancholy. 
I  found  it  far  more  heart-rending  the  next  day,  when 
early  in  the  afternoon  we  climbed  by  ladders  to  the 
flat  roof  of  the  house,  and  before  me  lay  stretched  out, 
under  the  crude  light  of  the  blazing  sun,  the  ruins  of 
the  city  in  all  the  nakedness  of  destruction,  with  their 
dusty  yards  and  daring  scaffoldings  which  seemed 
wildly  reaching  out  toward  the  sky  in  their  attempt  to 
flee  from  a  too  dangerous  land. 

But  to  return  to  our  first  evening.  After  having 
read  me  the  prophetic  inscription  on  the  tower,  and 
described  their  emotion  on  seeing,  out  of  that  whole 
quarter  of  the  city,  it  alone,  the  fearful  warning  of 


264     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

God,  still  standing  on  the  morrow  of  the  catastrophe, 
Father  Stark  led  me  quickly  in  the  tramway  to  the 
other  end  of  California  Street  and  proposed  our  re 
turning  on  foot.  For  nearly  an  hour  we  walked 
straight  ahead  through  this  gigantic  Pompeii,  treading 
on  the  upheaved  and  disjointed  flagstones  of  what  had 
been  splendid  pavements,  admiring  a  few  sparse  col 
umns,  or  counting  the  new  houses  which  broke  the 
monotony  of  the  heaps  of  stones  and  ashes.  From  the 
top  of  the  street,  my  friend  pointed  out  on  the  horizon 
the  hill  from  which,  during  four  days,  powerless  like 
the  others,  he  had  watched  the  destruction  of  his  city. 
"  We  were  an  immense  crowd  there,"  he  told  me, 
"  all  of  us  fleeing  before  the  fire,  gathering  up  in  haste 
provisions,  souvenirs,  precious  belongings;  we  priests, 
the  consecrated  vessels.  The  earthquake  itself  caused 
but  a  small  part  of  the  disaster;  but  besides  the  houses 
it  overthrew,  it  burst  the  electric  light,  gas,  and  water 
mains;  it  started  the  fire  and  at  the  same  time  cut  off 
the  means  of  extinguishing  it.  At  certain  hotels,  they 
poured  all  the  wine  of  their  cellars  on  it,  but  to  no  pur 
pose.  Every  one  had  to  flee,  to  abandon  everything, 
to  give  over  immense  quarters  that  were  doomed  to 
death.  And  so  it  happened  that  five  hundred  thousand 
persons  camped  out  in  the  cemeteries  or  on  the  moun 
tains,  awaiting,  some  in  tears,  some  with  prayers,  some 
in  mute  fear,  what  seemed  to  them  the  end  of  the 
world ;  for  we  had  no  means  of  knowing  that  it  was  not 
the  same  thing  everywhere,  and,  cut  off  from  all  com 
munication  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  we  could  see  in 


SAN   FRANCISCO  265 

it  a  universal  catastrophe.  All  were  preparing  them 
selves  to  die;  there  were  not  enough  priests  to  hear 
the  confessions  and  to  reassure  the  frightened  souls. 
When,  on  the  evening  of  Friday,  the  third  day,  two 
columns  of  thick  smoke  met  high  in  the  sky  in  the  red 
glow  of  the  flames  and  formed  the  four  arms  of  a 
huge  cross,  the  people  fell  on  their  knees,  awaiting  the 
Sovereign  Judge." 

Humanity  has  known  since  then,  in  the  south  of 
Italy  a  disaster  even  greater  than  the  one  I  have  de 
scribed.  But  if  the  consequences  of  the  earthquake  of 
Reggio  and  Messina  surpassed  in  horror  all  that  history 
has  ever  reported,  they  were  so  sudden  that  they  an 
nihilated  in  less  than  a  minute  almost  the  whole  popu 
lation  in  the  midst  of  its  sleep,  and  the  survivors 
attained  at  a  bound  the  extreme  limits  of  anxiety.  At 
San  Francisco  it  was  but  little  by  little  that  the  extent 
of  the  disaster  appeared.  Except  in  one  of  the  most 
important  streets,  Market  Street,  the  shocks  which,  at 
dawn,  had  driven  the  half-awakened  dwellers  from 
their  abodes,  did  not  at  first  seem  very  dreadful;  and, 
natural  light-heartedness  regaining  the  ascendant,  some 
were  already  smiling  at  the  costumes  of  the  fugitives  or 
ridiculing  the  rapid  collapse  of  the  municipal  build 
ings.  The  anxiety  was  not  serious  until  several  fires 
started,  and  even  then,  it  was  at  first  thought  that  they 
could  be  easily  mastered.  But  it  soon  became  evident 
that  the  water  with  which  to  fight  them  was  lacking, 
and  that  they  were  springing  up  on  all  sides  at  once; 
as  many  as  fifty-two  distinct  centres  could  be  counted. 


266     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

When  streets  and  whole  quarters  disappeared,  the  grav 
ity  of  the  disaster  was  realized.  Then  it  began  to  be 
exaggerated,  and  the  reality,  terrifying  in  itself,  was 
aggravated  by  the  fear  of  the  unknown;  people  began 
to  talk  of  they  knew  not  what ;  of  thousands  and  thou 
sands  of  dead;  that  New  York  had  been  submerged 
and  Chicago  had  disappeared  into  Lake  Michigan; 
that  there  was  not  a  city  left  standing  along  the  whole 
Pacific  coast.  And  hour  after  hour  dragged  by  through 
four  mortal  days  before  anything  presaged  the  end 
of  the  horrors. 

But  the  scourge  died  out  like  all  things,  good  or  bad, 
in  this  ephemeral  world.  It  had  completely  destroyed 
the  business  quarter,  the  shops,  the  churches,  clubs, 
theatres,  and  hotels,  everything  that  forms  the  nucleus 
of  an  American  city.  It  had  destroyed  all  the  material 
factors  of  civilization,  leaving  behind  it  no  lights,  no 
water,  no  telephone,  no  means  of  transport.  Half 
even  of  the  residence  quarters  had  been  the  prey  of  the 
flames  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  persons 
found  themselves  homeless;  four  hundred  and  ninety 
blocks  had  been  completely  burned,  and  thirty-two 
others  partially  so,  a  total  of  two  thousand  five  hun 
dred  and  ninety-three  acres,  or  more  than  four  square 
miles,  devastated.  Lined  up  facing  each  other,  the 
ruined  houses  would  have  covered  both  sides  of  a 
street  a  hundred  miles  long.  The  buildings  that  were 
destroyed  were  insured  for  three  hundred  million  dol 
lars  and  they  were  probably  worth  double.  As  to  their 
contents,  how  can  the  value  be  estimated?  How  can 


SAN   FRANCISCO  267 

material  losses  be  calculated?  Above  all,  how  ap 
preciate  losses  of  a  moral  order?  Think  of  all  the  ob 
jects  that  surround  our  daily  life  and  that  give  it  part 
of  its  individuality ;  think  of  our  furniture,  our  letters, 
our  portraits,  and  what  is  so  well  named,  our  "  souve 
nirs."  Imagine  all  these  things  disappeared,  suddenly 
and  forever! 

Yet  all  this  was  nothing  compared  with  the  human 
victims,  the  four  or  five  thousand  dead,  among  whom 
most  of  the  inhabitants  could  count  some  friends  or 
relations.  Some  were  left  crippled  for  life,  and  some 
had  lost  their  reason. 

During  the  first  days  every  one  suffered  with  hunger, 
the  provisions  having  been  burnt  with  the  rest,  and  peo 
ple  found  themselves  without  shelter  and  almost  with 
out  clothes.  When  calm  was  restored,  two  thousand 
persons  had  to  be  lodged  in  tents  or  sheds;  and  at  the 
time  of  my  visit,  seventeen  months  afterwards,  some 
of  these  refugee  camps  were  still  in  existence,  a  sure 
proof  that  they  were  not  too  uncomfortable. 

A  strange  thing,  yet  one  that  will  astonish  only  those 
who  are  not  well  acquainted  with  the  United  States, 
the  most  poignant  loss  was  that  of  the  beloved  city; 
the  deepest  grief  was  to  see  her  thus  profaned  and 
humiliated,  deprived  of  her  beauty,  her  riches,  even  of 
her  people.  Sometimes  they  wept  for  her,  sometimes 
they  extolled  her !  Never  for  an  instant  could  there  be 
a  question  of  abandoning  her  forever.  They  sang  her 
praises  in  these  lyric  terms : 

If  we  thought  we  loved  thee  formerly,  it  was  but 


268     AMERICA  OF  TO-MORROW 

a  dream.  I  call  on  God  Himself  to  witness  that  we 
begin  to-day  to  love  thee.  Girded  with  the  purple 
mantle  of  its  grief,  kneeling  at  the  altar  of  mourning, 
our  love  cries  to  thee  amid  the  flames  that  glow  on  the 
towers,  in  the  noise  of  the  crumbling  walls.  We 
are  the  descendants  of  the  builders  of  peoples ;  we  swear 
by  the  souls  of  our  ancestors  that  our  mother  shall  once 
more  be  seated  on  her  throne  as  of  yore,  clothed  in 
garments  as  rich,  and  crowned  with  the  same  crown; 
she  shall  be  seated  at  the  gates  of  the  world  where  the 
nations  assemble;  the  East  and  the  West  shall  bow 
down  before  her,  awaiting  her  commands ! 

But  the  elegy  is  not  the  most  natural  expression  of 
the  sentiments  of  a  Californian.  At  San  Francisco, 
temperaments  are  lively,  happy,  and  ready  to  laugh 
at  everything,  no  one  can  be  entirely  disconcerted.  The 
heavy  rain  of  the  fourth  night  had  no  sooner  extin 
guished  the  fire,  than  good  humor  began  to  reappear. 
The  police,  who  had  never  been  able  to  cleanse,  either 
materially  or  morally,  the  Chinese  quarter,  were  ac 
cused  of  organizing  the  earthquake  to  have  done  with 
this  den  of  pestilence.  I  have  before  me  a  song  com 
posed  a  few  days  after  the  fire;  one  would  take  it  for 
an  extract  from  a  Montmartre  review,  and  the  catas 
trophe  is  hit  off  to  perfection.  The  text  is  surrounded 
by  caricatures  in  which  one  sees  the  fugitives  dragging 
trunks  surmounted  by  parrot  cages,  society  ladies  cook 
ing  over  lamps  in  the  open  air,  masons  furiously  at 
tacking  their  work,  and  finally  a  jolly  fellow  playing 
leap  frog  over  the  globe  and,  convulsed  with  laughter, 


SAN  FRANCISCO  269 

jumping  on  the  site  of  San  Francisco  with  the  motto, 
"  I  am  here  to  stay." 

But  in  order  to  stay,  it  was  necessary  to  rebuild. 
They  set  to  work  with  incredible  energy.  At  the  end 
of  a  month  twenty-five  thousand  workmen  were  en 
gaged  in  rebuilding  the  city.  Help  had  arrived  from 
all  the  States  of  the  Union  with  as  much  promptitude 
as  generosity;  nor  has  the  city's  stand  been  forgotten, 
proud  perhaps  but  in  a  way  grand  too;  the  absolute 
refusal  of  foreign  subscriptions.  But  the  $6,213,000 
"national  subscription  was  wholly  applied  to  tempo 
rary  shelters,  distribution  of  food,  clothing,  medicines, 
and  the  expenses  of  first  aid;  and  it  was  the  city  itself 
which  had  to  reestablish  all  its  annihilated  depart 
ments  of  service ;  it  was  the  inhabitants  who  had  to  put, 
not  only  their  business  but  their  homes  on  their  feet 
again.  So  actively  did  they  attend  to  it,  that,  less  than 
a  year  and  a  half  later,  I  found  the  life  of  San  Fran 
cisco  similar  to  that  of  any  other  large  city;  materially 
in  as  easy  circumstances,  and  as  well  provided  for  in 
things  of  the  spirit.  The  business  quarter  recalled 
somewhat  the  appearance  presented  for  a  number  of 
years  by  our  Boulevard  Raspail ;  but  they  did  not  wait 
to  let  cars  and  carriages  use  the  street  until  every  win 
dow  was  curtained!  I  learned  in  walking  round  the 
lumber  yards  that  the  work  undertaken  already 
amounted  to  about  seventy-five  million  dollars.  To 
quote  more  exact  figures,  from  April  18,  1906,  to  No 
vember  3,  1908,  official  permission  has  been  given  to 


270     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

build  18,422  houses  of  a  recorded  value  of  $120,866,- 
948  which  with  the  15  per  cent  that  must  be  added  to 
make  up  the  real  value,  brings  it  up  to  $138,997,090 
in  nineteen  months.  In  October,  1909,  when  magnif 
icent  festivals,  in  which  the  people  of  the  whole 
United  States  took  part,  celebrated  the  completion  by 
San  Francisco  of  her  rebuilding  operations,  it  was  es 
timated  that  the  cost  had  been  more  than  two  hundred 
millions.  The  new  houses  are  finer  than  the  old  ones 
and  represent  an  average  value  at  least  twice  greater. 
Not  only  elegance  and  comfort,  but  great  safety,  has 
been  sought;  plaster  has  been  replaced  by  brick  and 
stone,  and  above  all  more  solid  foundations  have  been 
laid. 

But  the  greatest  improvement  is  that  of  the  water 
supply;  if  the  former  one  had  worked  after  the  earth 
quake,  the  damage  done  would  have  been  a  hundredth 
part  of  what  it  was.  The  new  system  is  planned  to 
insure,  in  times  of  great  disaster,  the  possible  use  of  sea 
water  by  means  of  fire  tugs  and  immense  reservoirs 
built  above  the  city. 

That  part  of  the  population  which,  on  account  of 
the  number  of  camps  being  insufficient  to  accommodate 
everyone,  was  forced  willy-nilly,  to  emigrate,  and 
which  as  a  rule  moved  to  other  towns  along  the  bay, 
has  by  now  almost  entirely  returned.  The  approx 
imate  statistics  which  give  five  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants  before  the  fire  and  one  hundred  and  sev 
enty-five  thousand  after  it,  have  already  risen  to  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  If  these  figures  be  com- 


SAN   FRANCISCO  271 

pared  with  those  of  1900,  which  were  three  hundred  and 
forty-two  thousand,  it  will  be  seen  that  progress 
has  not  been  stopped.  The  total  exportations  alone 
dropped  about  seven  million  dollars  on  some  fifty  mil 
lions;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  importations  have 
increased  by  the  same  amount.  The  tonnage  of  mar 
itime  trade  still  lacks  one-fifth  of  its  former  amount. 

Along  the  whole  line,  the  city  of  to-day,  though 
somewhat  behind  its  record  before  the  great  disaster, 
is  decidedly  ahead  of  where  it  stood  in  1900,  both  as 
to  population  and  prosperity.  To  mention  only  one 
example,  but  one  that  summarizes  the  others :  the  total 
clearing-house  transactions  were,  in  1907,  $2,133,882,- 
626,  whereas  in  1900  it  was  not  quite  half  or  $1,029,- 
582,595.* 

Such,  apart  from  the  figures,  were  the  explanations 
given  me  by  the  young  Californian  Paulist,  while  tak 
ing  me  around  the  ruins  and  the  new  constructions,  and 
showing  me  far  off  in  the  night  the  shadows  of  death, 

*The  clearing-house  transactions  for  1907  gave  the  following  results 
for  all  the  cities  of  the  Pacific  slope,  that  newest  part  of  the  United 
States,  perhaps  the  part  of  the  world  destined  to  receive  the  most  sub 
stantial  development  in  the  next  generation  or  two.  Nothing  gives  a 
better  idea  of  the  relative  importance  of  these  cities: 

San    Francisco $2,133,882,626 

Los   Angeles 577.569,639 

Seattle 488,591,471 

Portland 350.933,525 

Spokane 301,419,017 

Salt  Lake   City 292,158,324 

Tacoma        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  245,969,795 

Oakland 137,681,207 

Helena 48,177,437 

San    Jose 28,889,386 


272     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

and  the  lights  of  resurrection.  The  most  impressive 
thing  of  all  in  these  memories  of  the  catastrophe  was 
hearing  them  evoked  on  the  spot  by  someone  who  had 
lived  through  them,  and  whose  spirit  still  quivered  at 
the  recollection.  I  must  acknowledge,  too,  that  I  felt 
a  little  of  that  morbidly  pleasant  emotion  one  has 
when  feeling  oneself  within  reach  of  a  great,  but  im 
probable,  danger:  "The  ground  here  is  not  settled," 
Father  Stark  remarked  to  me  in  a  perfectly  natural 
manner,  "and  shocks  are  somewhat  frequent.  There 
was  rather  a  severe  one  while  I  was  preaching  last 
month,  and  there  was  a  panic  among  the  women  and 
children.  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  an  earthquake  to 
morrow  evening;  there  would  be  fewer  people  at  your 
lecture."  He  spoke  in  the  same  tone  as  the  Bishop  of 
Omaha  when  he  said  to  me  three  weeks  earlier,  "  If 
only  it  does  n't  rain  at  the  last  minute!  " 

Too  disturbed  to  go  to  sleep,  I  sat  down  to  write 
after  our  walk,  in  spite  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  and 
I  wrote  these  lines,  which  I  leave  in  all  their  naivete, 
not  daring  to  judge,  at  this  distance,  whether  they  rep 
resent  reality  or  auto-suggestion: 

"  This  evening  in  taking  down  my  notes  I  feel  some 
thing  like  a  light  breathing  of  the  earth ;  the  table  sways 
imperceptibly,  and  the  reflection  of  the  light  shimmers 
in  my  inkstand.  One  would  think  oneself  at  sea  in  a 
profound  calm,  but  nevertheless  at  sea.  It  is,  in  the 
midst  of  the  ruins  of  this  great  city,  so  far  from  home, 
in  this  land  of  danger  and  of  beauty,  a  somewhat  in 
toxicating  melancholy.  But  it  is  not  frightening,  no, 


SAN   FRANCISCO  273 

certainly  not;  just  a  clearer  vision  of  our  frailty,  a 
louder  call  toward  the  things  that  endure." 

To  demonstrate  that  this  state  of  reverie  did  not 
last,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  state  that  my  stay  at  San 
Francisco  was  diversified  by  four  lectures.  The  first 
took  place,  as  I  have  said,  on  the  evening  of  my  second 
day;  I  was  very  grateful  for  the  kind  forbearance  of 
the  earth  in  sparing  us  any  shocks,  and  highly  apprecia 
tive  of  the  beautiful  singing  that  was  heard  both  be 
fore  and  after  the  lecture.  Nor  could  any  audience 
be  more  keen,  more  attentive,  quicker  to  seize,  even 
before  fully  expressed,  the  least  shade  of  thought, 
irony,  or  sentiment.  It  was  indeed,  for  me,  a  most 
agreeable  surprise  to  meet  with  such  a  thoroughly  Par 
isian  understanding  away  out  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
This  lecture,  on  "  The  Present  Situation  of  the  Church 
in  France,"  was  the  only  one  asked  of  me  in  advance. 
Besides  this  I  was  to  speak  on  an  analogous  subject, 
the  history  of  the  separation,  before  the  French  of  San 
Francisco,  for  the  benefit  of  their  church.  In  this  cos 
mopolitan  city,  Archbishop  Riordan,  the  better  to  pre 
serve  the  faith  of  his  flock,  has  tried  to  have  each 
nationality  find  its  own  church;  the  parish  of  the  Na 
tivity  assembles  three  thousand  Slavonians,  Bohemians, 
and  Croats;  the  Germans  and  Italians  have  two 
churches,  and  the  French  and  Spanish,  one  each.  Apart 
from  the  restfulness  of  at  last  being  able  to  express  my 
self  in  a  language  in  which  I  was  at  home,  it  was  a  great 
pleasure  to  see  compatriots,  though  disagreeing  in 
opinion,  here  as  everywhere,  admit  with  one  accord  the 


274     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

facts,  loyally  set  forth,  of  our  recent  history,  and  at  the 
end  unite  in  an  ovation  to  that  France,  sometimes  cruel 
but  always  beloved,  that  outlasts  all  our  passing  quar 
rels.  It  is,  besides,  an  acknowledged  fact  that  the 
French  element  in  San  Francisco  is  not  only  more  nu 
merous,  but  also  more  distingue  than  in  most  other 
cities  of  the  Union.  Monsieur  Jules  Huret  has,  in  his 
precise  and  lively  style,  clearly  set  forth  how  "  they 
have  appropriated,  from  America,  its  genius  for  organ 
ization  and  its  enterprise  " ;  he  has  described  their  hos 
pital,  better  arranged  than  those  of  Paris,  and  he  has 
praised,  as  it  deserves,  their  society  of  mutual  assist 
ance,  to  which  four  thousand  nine  hundred  members 
pay  annual  dues  amounting  to  twelve  dollars.*  They 
are  kept  in  touch  with  each  other  by  a  well-edited 
newspaper,  and  those  who  have  preserved  or  returned 
to  the  faith  of  their  forefathers,  find  satisfaction  for 
their  spiritual  needs  from  the  excellent  Marist  Fathers 
in  the  French  church  of  Notre  Dame  des  Victoires. 

Another  lecture  no  less  interesting  (to  the  lecturer) 
was  that  which  I  was  invited  to  give  by  the  Knights 
of  Columbus.  It  was  by  their  request  that  I  had  al 
ready  spoken  at  Omaha,  but  at  a  public  meeting;  and 
when  in  New  York,  later,  I  had  the  honor  of  being 
received  by  a  delegation  of  their  officers,  everything 
took  place  as  at  an  ordinary  club.  At  San  Francisco, 
I  was  admitted  to  a  regular  meeting  and  ushered  in, 
not  without  ceremonial,  to  the  accompaniment  of  clap- 

*Jules  Huret,  "  De  San  Francisco  au  Canada,"  p.  73,  Fasquelle, 
publisher. 


SAN  FRANCISCO  275 

ping,  which,  I  imagine,  resembles  the  greeting  of  the 
Free  Masons.  I  must  say  that  in  spite  of  this  mys 
terious  solemnity,  the  hundred  or  so  brethren  who  were 
present  differed  by  little  from  the  rest  of  mankind; 
and  I  received  the  impression  that  in  this  secret  society 
as,  no  doubt  in  many  others,  the  fundamental  secret 
was  that  there  was  none  at  all.  But  a  few  very  high 
cjignitaries  are  the  only  ones  to  know  this:  the  crowd 
of  adherents  must  be  held  by  a  reverence  for  what 
they  know  not,  and  by  the  hope,  forever  postponed,  of 
at  last  being  initiated  into  the  mystery  of  mysteries. 
But  this  does  not  prevent  these  societies  exerting,  for 
good  or  evil,  a  very  real  influence. 

Founded  by  a  priest  and  sanctioned  by  the  Church, 
to  the  extent  that  she  forbids  no  one  to  belong,  not  even 
the  clergy,  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus  la 
bors  for  the  spread  of  religion  and  the  advancement  of 
Catholic  works;  one  of  its  most  obvious  services  is  to 
preserve  its  adherents  from  any  temptation  to  be 
ashamed  of  their  faith,  as  they  are  in  the  habit  of  show 
ing  themselves  in  all  festivals  and  celebrations  of  pub 
lic  life  for  what  they  are,  members  of  an  openly  de-, 
nominational  society.  They  are  not  let  or  hindered  by 
the  civic  power,  as  tolerant  in  this  as  in  other  things, 
nor  by  public  opinion,  accustomed  to  respect  the  ideas 
of  every  one,  nor  even  by  other  societies,  secret  or  not, 
that  swarm  all  over  the  United  States.  All  these  so 
cieties  have  their  special  ends  in  which  the  dominant 
idea  is  that  of  mutual  assistance.  But  they  do  not  in 
terfere  with  each  other,  and  their  efforts  are,  if  I  may 


276     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

say  so,  of  the  positive  order;  and,  in  conformity  with 
the  general  spirit  of  Americans,  each  one  minds  its 
own  business,  and  allows  the  others  to  do  likewise. 

The  organization  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus  is 
uniform  throughout  the  whole  country :  every  State  has 
a  corps,  formed  of  delegates  from  private  groups,  who 
meet  together  every  year  to  elect  the  members  of  a  na 
tional  committee;  these  last  meet  annually  also,  to 
elect  the  directors  who  hold  the  real  power.  At  the 
head  is  a  Supreme  Grand  Master.  Each  group  has 
its  chaplain  elected  from  among  the  priests  who  are 
members.  Heretofore  the  bishops  have  exercised  no 
control  over  this  choice,  but  some  are  talking  of  sub 
mitting  it  to  the  consent  of  the  Bishop,  or  at  least,  of 
giving  him  a  power  of  veto;  others  speak  even  of  put 
ting  an  end  to  this  sort  of  office.  It  is  evident  that  a 
bishop  always  has  the  right  to  control  his  priests  in 
the  exercise  of  their  ecclesiastical  functions;  but  there 
is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  episcopacy  of  the 
United  States  wishes  to  thwart  the  activity  of  an  asso 
ciation  that  has  thus  far  rendered  indisputable  services 
to  Catholicism. 

"  Why,"  I  was  asked,  "  don't  you  start  an  analogous 
society  in  France,  in  order  to  defend  your  religious  in 
terests'?  You  need  it  even  more  than  we  do."  I  was 
quite  put  to  it  to  reply.  I  should  have  had  to  speak 
of  our  intestine  discords  and  of  our  mutual  intolerance ; 
I  should  have  had  to  explain  that  fatal  habit,  which 
sterilizes  all  our  efforts,  the  habit  of  never  seeing  in  our 
brethren  the  numerous  bonds  we  have  in  common  as  to 


SAN   FRANCISCO  277 

fundamental  matters,  but  instead,  of  dwelling  almost 
exclusively  on  the  differences  that  divide  us  on  non- 
essentials.  The  French  Catholics  who  would  organize 
themselves  into  Knights  of  Columbus  or  Knights  of 
Jeanne  d'Arc  would  probably  soon  get  into  trouble 
with  those  of  their  co-religionists  who  did  not  belong  to 
the  order.  These  last,  for  their  part,  would  certainly 
not  rest  until  they  had  had  the  others  condemned  as 
members  of  a  secret  society  or  as  being  tainted  with 
heresy.  As  to  wanting  either  these  or  any  others  to 
devote  themselves  to  a  positive  work,  seeking  their 
own  good  or  that  of  the  Church,  without  setting  as 
their  special  aim  to  combat  something  or  someone, 
without  proclaiming  themselves  at  the  outset  anti-any- 
thing  at  all,  would  be  an  experiment  which  would  fall 
of  itself  beneath  the  ridicule  of  men  of  experience  and 
the  protests  of  its  overzealous  adherents. 

The  fourth  lecture  was  delivered  at  Berkeley,  at  the 
University  of  California.  Let  me  reassure  the  reader : 
it  was  the  last,  for  I  was  forced  for  lack  of  time  to  de 
cline  the  kind  invitation  of  Stanford.  I  should  like  to 
call  attention  in  passing  to  the  freedom  with  which 
priests  are  invited  to  speak  at  non-sectarian  univer 
sities.  That  at  Berkeley  is,  furthermore,  an  official  es 
tablishment,  founded  by  the  State  of  California.  I 
spoke  on  literature,  and  as  I  had  been  asked,  in  English, 
or  rather  in  my  English;  but  French  lectures  are  often 
given  there,  and  it  is  one  of  the  few  places  in  the 
United  States  where  an  audience  can  easily  be  found 


278     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

to  understand  our  language.  The  assembly  took  place 
in  the  magnificent  hall  that  bears  the  name  of  Hearst; 
the  mother  of  this  millionaire-politician  and  journalist 
is  one  of  the  great  benefactresses  of  Berkeley.  But 
let  us  speak  of  the  excursion,  interesting  in  itself,  apart 
from  what  I  could  say. 

Berkeley  is  but  one  of  the  numerous  towns  around 
the  immense  Bay  of  San  Francisco.  It  has  often  been 
said  that  all  the  fleets  of  the  world  could  easily  perform 
their  evolutions  there.  This  is  no  exaggeration,  and 
it  was  a  beautiful  sight  to  see,  in  the  Spring  of  1908, 
that  great  American  fleet  which  arrived  from  the  Straits 
of  Magellan  on  its  way  to  those  of  Gibraltar,  manoeuv 
ring  there.  Inside  the  narrow  passage  that  serves  as 
an  entrance,  San  Francisco  Bay  is  in  reality  an  inland 
sea,  a  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles  in  extent,  of  a 
width  varying  from  seven  to  twelve  miles  and  a  shore 
line  of  a  thousand  miles;  or  almost  as  much  as  all  the 
rest  of  the  coast  of  California.  The  principal  city  on 
the  bay  is  Oakland,  which  has  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants;  but  there  are  others  which  also 
deserve  attention,  and  which  are  growing  incessantly: 
Berkeley  itself,  opposite  San  Francisco,  Alameda,  San 
Mateo,  Richmond,  and  San  Rafael  to  which  we  shall 
return.  They  are  like  suburbs,  some  fashionable  and 
some  common,  of  the  great  metropolis  with  which  they 
are  in  constant  communication  by  seven  lines  of  huge 
ferry  boats,  each  one  of  which  can  carry  two  thousand 
passengers.  The  whole  forms  an  agglomeration  of 
nine  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  whose  prosperity 


SAN   FRANCISCO  279 

can  perhaps  be  judged  from  the  amount  of  their  bank 
deposits,  which  are  in  the  neighborhood  of  three  hun 
dred  million  dollars,  or  by  the  assessed  value  of  their 
property,  exactly  $672,848,462.  But  what  fate  is  it 
that  wills  that  every  American  description  should  end 
up  in  dollars'?  It  is  perhaps  that,  underlying  it  all, 
'there  is  something  prodigious  and  poetic  in  this  very 
material  prosperity,  which  everywhere,  and  especially 
in  the  West,  has  followed  so  rapidly  on  the  heels  of  sol 
itude  or  savagery?  Once  again  I  felt  it  clearly  while 
crossing  from  San  Francisco  to  Berkeley  on  one  of  those 
immense  steamers  that,  by  themselves  alone,  without 
speaking  of  the  railroads,  or  the  tramways,  carry  each 
evening  five  thousand  city  workers  back  to  their  rural 
homes.  To  tell  the  truth  our  boat  did  not  land  us  at 
Berkeley  itself;  it  put  us  off  on  a  pier  where  an  electric 
train  was  waiting  and  we  ran  across  the  water  for  three 
miles  along  this  railroad  built  on  piles.  We  arrived  a 
little  before  sunset;  and  when  we  had  driven  to  Mr. 
Wheeler's,  the  president  of  the  University,  the  view 
that  met  my  eyes  from  his  villa  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  I  have  ever  seen.  Before  us  blue  islands 
rose  from  the  smiling  sea,  recalling,  said  our  host, 
who  is  a  fervent  Greek  scholar,  the  panorama  of 
the  ^Egean  Sea.  Above  the  beautiful  sheet  of  water, 
where  there  was  now  no  more  than  a  shimmering  golden 
light,  we  caught  far  off  glimpses,  on  the  left,  of  the 
great  city  fringed  with  a  host  of  ships ;  on  the  right,  of 
the  tall  summits  of  Tamalpais;  in  front  and  opening 
on  to  the  largest  of  oceans,  the  magnificent  strait  of  the 


280     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Golden  Gate,  like  a  royal  road  drawn  there  at  the  end 
of  inhabited  land  to  make  a  way  for  the  setting  sun. 
The  landscape  on  our  return,  by  moonlight  and  in  the 
warm  air,  was  less  splendidly  brilliant;  but  I  believe, 
I'  like  it  quite  as  well,  and  I  remember  that  under  a 
pretext  of  rest,  I  stayed  alone  on  deck  during  the  whole 
crossing,  sometimes  watching  the  far-away  lights  that 
dimly  outlined  the  circle  of  sleeping  towns,  sometimes 
contemplating  the  sky  or  the  sea,  each  as  mysterious 
as  the  other  in  their  deep  peace. 

But  I  must  not  leave  the  University  of  California 
without  recalling  two  facts  of  which  I  was  a  witness. 
The  first  is  that  during  the  dinner  that  preceded  the 
lecture,  President  Wheeler  received  the  farewell  visit 
of  one  of  his  students  who  was  leaving  for  Oxford,  a 
beneficiary  of  one  of  the  scholarships  founded  by  Cecil 
Rhodes  for  the  most  distinguished  young  men  of  the 
English-speaking  countries.  And  here,  in  the  depart 
ure  of  a  Californian  for  the  oldest  university  in  the 
United  Kingdom  (thanks  to  a  South  African  pioneer), 
was  set  forth,  almost  symbolically,  what  is,  in  spite 
of  everything,  the  consummate  unity  of  those  who 
share,  from  far  or  near,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  ad 
vantages  of  that  powerful  Anglo-Saxon  civilization 
which  is  to-day  mistress  of  half  the  world. 

The  second  significant  memory  of  my  evening  at 
Berkeley  was  the  invitation  given  by  the  president  in 
my  presence  to  another  Catholic  priest  to  become  reg 
ularly  attached  to  the  University  life.  Out  of  the  two 
thousand  students  resident  at  Berkeley  (counting  only 


SAN   FRANCISCO  281 

those  who  follow  the  courses  of  science  and  letters) 
three  hundred  are  Catholics.  The  proportion,  if  you 
will,  is  not  great ;  but  the  Archbishop  of  San  Francisco 
rightly  judged  it  sufficient  to  attach  a  special  chaplain 
for  their  services;  and  for  this  delicate  post  he  chose 
a  learned  young  Paulist,  Father  Thomas  V.  Moore, 
wno,  himself,  had  studied  at  Washington  and  Leipzig. 
At  the  same  time,  in  a  letter  that  is  a  marvel  of  reason 
ing  and  precision,  he  asked  the  people  of  his  diocese  for 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars  necessary  to  erect  a  chapel 
and  lecture  hall.  He  said : 

"  The  Catholics  understand  that  religion  is  indispensable 
to  the  proper  education  of  youth.  It  is  at  the  same  time 
asserted  that  an  always  increasing  number  of  Catholic  stu 
dents  attend  non-sectarian  universities,  where  religion  oc 
cupies  but  little  or  no  place.  The  conclusion  is  self-evident. 
The  Newman  Club,  founded  in  1899,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  rector  of  Berkeley,  is  no  longer  sufficient.  It  is  necessary  that 
a  priest  should  live  with  the  students,  should  help  them  on  their 
arrival  and  look  after  their  installation,  should  gather  them 
about  him  in  literary  or  scientific  clubs,  should  himself,  and 
with  the  help  of  other  speakers,  give  them  lectures  to  interest 
and  instruct  them,  should  hold  divine  service  on  Sundays  and 
disseminate  doctrinal  teaching." 

Archbishop  Riordan  had  already,  at  the  time  of  my 
visit,  passed  from  ideas  to  action :  he  had  bought,  next 
to  the  University  itself,  the  ground  necessary  for  the 
building  of  a  chapel,  a  lecture  hall,  and  a  chaplain's 
house.  This  movement  is  general  in  the  United  States ; 
whatever  may  be  the  shades  of  opinion  or  differences 
of  disposition  that  distinguish  the  various  bishops,  one 


282     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

and  all  have  solved  the  same  problem  in  the  same  way. 
Though  it  may  be  desirable  that  Catholic  students 
should  attend  their  own  universities,  shall  interest  be 
lost  in  those  who,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  great  numbers 
enter  other  colleges'?  That  is  why  Catholic  chaplains 
have  recently  been  appointed  to  Cornell  by  the  Bishop 
of  Rochester,  to  Columbia  by  the  Archbishop  of  New 
York,  and  to  Madison  by  the  Archbishop  of  Milwau 
kee. 

No  one  will  be  surprised  at  the  solicitude  of  the 
heads  of  the  Church  for  those  of  their  children  who  are 
called  to  exercise  the  greatest  influence;  but  it  should 
be  remarked  that  this  solicitude,  far  from  encountering 
the  least  obstacle,  meets,  on  the  contrary,  with  the 
hearty  concurrence  of  the  deans  and  presidents  of  the 
universities,  who  are  persuaded,  like  all  those  who 
hold  any  office  in  the  United  States,  that  religion  is 
the  strongest  auxiliary  of  public  and  private  morals. 
Mr.  Wheeler,  for  instance,  looked  upon  it  as  a  very  lit 
tle  thing  to  ask  me  to  speak  to  the  students,  a  few  days 
after  my  lecture,  at  one  of  the  opening  exercises;  and 
as  the  shortness  of  my  stay  prevented  my  accepting, 
he  invited  Father  Thomas  Moore  to  take  my  place. 
A  month  later,  at  New  York,  Mr.  Nicholas  Murray 
Butler,  the  president  of  Columbia  University,  asked 
me  to  give  a  series  of  religious  lectures,  which  to  my 
regret,  the  necessity  of  returning  home  prevented  my 
doing.  At  about  the  same  time,  at  Harvard,  I  heard 
President  Eliot  speak  at  the  reopening  of  the  stu 
dents'  Catholic  Club;  and  he  attended  the  lecture  that  I 


SAN  FRANCISCO  283 

myself  delivered  in  one  of  the  university  halls  at  the 
request  of  the  French  Club.  If  it  would  not  too  greatly 
compromise  them  or  myself,  I  would  confess  to  some 
friendships  in  the  higher  lay  education  in  France  too; 
but  what  would  be  said  on  all  hands  if  I  received,  if  I 
accepted,  such  invitations  as  those  I  have  been  speak 
ing  of? 

But  to  return  to  the  scenery  of  San  Francisco  Bay. 
I  saw  it  also  by  full  daylight  in  an  excursion  to  San 
Rafael.  This  name  itself,  the  similarity  of  the  veg 
etation,  the  exuberance,  the  brilliancy,  and  the  odor  of 
the  flowers  —  everything  would  make  me  think  that  I 
was  journeying  in  springtime  along  our  Cote  d'Azur; 
and  the  charming  hosts  who  welcomed  us,  Father 
Stark  and  me,  kept  up  the  illusion,  familiar  as  they 
were  with  the  customs  and  the  language  of  France,  and 
attentive  in  recalling  to  me  my  far-away  country  with 
pictures,  books,  and  souvenirs,  and  even  by  the  menu 
and  the  wines  they  served  at  table.  This  Villa  Mead- 
owlands  is  a  corner  of  France,  and  of  the  best  of 
France,  where  the  men,  editors  of  the  most  important 
San  Francisco  newspaper,  are  posted  on  literature,  art, 
and  politics ;  where  the  women  add  to  American  energy 
the  gentleness  of  Catholicism,  and  where  the  young 
girls  are  pupils  of  the  Assumption  in  Paris. 

It  was  for  me  the  great  day  of  rest  in  the  midst  of 
a  really  too  busy  visit.  Instead  of  the  crowded  streets 
of  the  commercial  city,  instead  of  the  dust  of  ruins 
and  building  materials,  what  a  delight  it  was  to  tread 


284     AMERICA   OF  TO-MORROW 

the  shady  paths  of  a  semi-tropical  garden,  to  wander 
among  the  palms,  the  pepper-plants,  the  great  ger 
aniums,  and  the  rare  trees  and  plants  of  which  we  can 
only  cultivate  puny  specimens  in  a  greenhouse,  and 
which  here  in  this  equable  climate  —  equable  in  its 
softness,  —  spread  forth  strong  branches,  splendidly 
green,  brilliant,  and  odorous,  looking  at  the  end  of 
Summer  as  pure,  as  fresh,  as  tender,  as  a  plant  with  us 
in  the  middle  of  the  most  beautiful  month  of  May! 
The  beauty  and  luxuriance  of  this  fertile  Nature  threw 
such  a  spell  over  me  that  I  allowed  myself  to  be  driven 
the  whole  afternoon  along  the  city  boulevards  and  the 
winding  hill-roads  without  remembering,  without  no 
ticing  even,  the  sonorous  names,  inherited  from  Spain, 
of  most  of  the  villages,  streams,  and  islands.  I  re 
member  only  the  contrast  between  the  fertile  valleys 
and  the  arid  mountains,  and  the  delight  of  discovering, 
at  each  turn  of  the  road,  a  different  but  ever  beautiful 
view.  It  was  on  returning  with  Father  Stark  by  the 
Sausalito  railroad,  and  then  on  the  big  ferry  boat,  that 
I  listened  to  the  names  of  the  islands  —  Goat,  Angel, 
and  Alcatraz  —  the  last  transformed  into  a  fortress 
and  bristling  with  cannon;  to  the  name  of  the  heights 
we  had  been  driving  along,  Marine  Hills;  and  the 
name,  which  I  already  knew,  of  Mt.  Tamalpais,  cer 
tainly  one  of  the  most  beautiful  viewpoints  in  the 
world.  My  companion  also  pointed  out  the  towns, 
bending  in  a  circle  over  the  waters  of  the  royal  bay, 
and  he  did  his  best  to  teach  me  to  distinguish  between 
them:  San  Anselmo,  Casadero,  Vallejo,  San  Pablo, 


SAN  FRANCISCO  285 

Berkeley,  Oakland,  Alameda,  and  how  many  others! 
But  after  a  little,  evening  having  come,  I  had  ceased 
to  listen  to  my  friend;  once  more  I  watched  the  sun 
sink  solemnly  between  the  two  blue  cliffs,  beneath  the 
purple  tent  of  the  heavens,  down  to  its  beautiful  plunge 
into%the  sparkling  golden  sea.  And  I  understood  why 
this  magnificent  portico  bears  the  name  of  Golden 
Gate. 

Has  there  been  too  much  description?  I  begin  to 
fear  so,  and  shall  stop  there.  So  I  shall  not  tell  of 
my  trip  in  San  Mateo  County,  where  I  went  to  see,  a 
bit  hurriedly,  Stanford  University  and  the  Seminary  of 
Menlo  Park.  A  sufficient  number  of  institutions  of 
this  kind  have  already  found  a  place  in  my  travel  notes. 
The  two  just  mentioned  are  among  the  most  beautiful. 
Stanford  holds  the  record  for  the  largest  donations, 
having  been,  in  1891,  founded,  as  we  have  said,  by  a 
private  endowment  of  thirty  million  dollars.  After 
that,  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  richness  of  its 
installation  and  the  extent  of  its  parks.*  The  statis- 

*Taking  only  the  value  of  the  ground  and  buildings  on  one  hand, 
the  amount  of  productive  funds  on  the  other,  and  consequently  leaving 
aside  the  rest  of  the  equipment,  here  are  the  figures  of  the  official 
statistics  for  1907,  which  will  give  some  idea  of  the  wealth  of  the 
universities  and  other  large  scholastic  establishments  in  the  United 
States: 

Productive       Value  of  grounds 
funds  and  buildings 

Columbia   University    (N.   Y.)     .        .        .  $22,189,765  $12,500,000 

Harvard   University    (Mass.)        .         .         .  19,977,912  7,000,000 

University  of  Pennsylvania    (Penn.)   .         .  9,837,944  5,762,529 

University  of  Chicago    (111.)        .         .         .  8,639,297  7,184,677 

Yale   University    (Conn.)      ....  7,862,000           

Cornell  University    (N.  Y.)          .        .        .  7,839,874  3,375,o86 


286     AiMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

tics  of  1907  credit  it  with  1222  man  students  and  564 
woman  students.  At  Berkeley  the  University  of  Cal 
ifornia  has  2007  and  1331  respectively.  The  Sem 
inary  of  Menlo  Park  has  been  the  favorite  work 
of  the  present  Archbishop  of  San  Francisco.  It 
has  but  eighty  students;  but,  on  reflection,  that 
is  a  good  number  for  ecclesiastical  vocations  for  a 
comparatively  new  archdiocese,  and  for  a  country 
in  which  youth  is  not  especially  disposed  toward 
an  austere  life.  The  intellectual  and  moral  edu 
cation  of  the  seminarists  has  been  entrusted  to  the  ex 
pert  hands  of  French  and  American  Sulpicians.  As  to 
the  material  side,  the  buildings  are  spacious  enough  to 
receive  a  great  many  more  students.  The  property, 
which  is  close  to  that  of  Stanford,  is  large  and  well 
laid  out,  and  the  view  extends  to  the  distant  and  beau- 


Productive      Value  of  grounds 
funds  and  buildings 

Northwestern  University    (111.)     .         .         .  5,024,550           3,170,935 

Washington    University    (Mo.)     .         .         .  4,809.554          2,205,892 

Princeton   University    (N.  J.)  .         .  3,196,000  

Brown   University    (R.   I.)    •         •         •  3,I5°,532 

Dartmouth  College    (N.  H.)          .         .         .  2,700,000 

Syracuse  University   (N.  Y.)        .         .         .  2,150,326 

Tufts  College    (Mass.)          ....  2,000,000 

Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  (Mass.)  1,770,823 

Amherst  College    (Mass.)     ....  1,750,000 

Western   Reserve    University    (O.)       .         .  i, 53 5, 843 

Armour  Institute  of  Technology    (111.)        .  1,500,000 

University  of  Cincinnati    (O.)              .         .  1,446,000 

Williams  College    (Mass.)    ....  1,429,237 

University  of  Minnesota    (Minn.)        .         .  1,400,000 

University  of  Missouri   (Mo.)       .         .         .  1,240,839 

Haverford   College    (Penn.)          .         .         .  1,200,000 

Lehigh    University    (Penn.)           .         .         .  1,182,000 

New  York  University   (N.  Y.)     .         .         .  1,080,349           2,978,250 

Ohio  State  University   (O.)           .        .        .  762,043          2,750,000 


,630,556 
,450,000 

,354,382 
,350,000 
,696,288 

,100,000 

,314,900 

,000  ooo 
,650,000 
,072,706 
,890,000 
265,206 
,000,000 
,250,000 


SAN   FRANCISCO  287 

tiful  mountains.  It  was  a  cruel  grief  to  Archbishop 
Riordan  to  see  the  earthquake  of  1906  destroy  part  of 
his  beloved  seminary;  but  there,  as  in  the  parishes  of 
San  Francisco,  he  set  to  work  with  so  much  courage, 
zeal,  and  intelligence,  that  most  of  the  ruins  are  already 
rebuilt. 

Menlo  Park  and  Palo  Alto  are  on  the  way  to  the 
pretty  towns  with  the  Spanish  names  and  memories, 
Santa  Clara,  San  Jose,  and  Monterey.  I  did  not  have 
the  satisfaction  of  going  there,  nor  to  Los  Angeles 
either,  that  beautiful  city  of  250,000  inhabitants,  al 
ways  flowery,  always  smiling,  always  bathed  in  soft 
sunshine,  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  of  the  New 
World,  and,  by  its  climate  at  least,  a  worthy  rival  of 
the  most  delightful  spots  of  the  Riviera.  I  even  gave 
up  the  Yosemite  Valley,  in  spite  of  all  that  is  told  of 
its  grandeur,  its  beauty,  and  the  weirdness  of  its 
scenery.  Another  land  called  me  more  strongly  yet, 
and,  obliged  to  choose  between  them,  I  preferred 
northern  Arizona,  with  its  strange  deserts,  its  tribes  of 
real  savages,  and  its  sublime  Canon  of  the  Colorado, 
the  wonder  of  the  world.  The  weeks  that  I  passed 
there  as  well  as  in  New  Mexico  have  left  me  with  mem 
ories  and  impressions  which  I  hope  to  write  of  soon, 
but  which  it  would  require  some  Procrustean  efforts  to 
fit  into  a  book  called  "  America  of  To-morrow." 

To  the  reader,  tired  of  my  descriptions,  it  remains 
to  say  that  he  might  —  unless  by  escaping  entirely  — 
have  been  subjected  to  more.     I  shall  bring  him  back 


288     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

to  San  Francisco  Bay  only  to  call  his  attention  to  a 
somewhat  gloomy  building  on  the  north  shore  between 
San  Rafael  and  Mt.  Tamalpais,  which  is  the  Peniten 
tiary  of  St.  Quentin,  to  which,  at  the  time  of  my  visit, 
the  courts  were  sending,  one  after  another,  the  chief 
functionaries  of  the  old  municipality  for  a  few  years' 
enforced  rest-cure !  I  could  not  open  a  paper  without 
seeing  in  large  type  that  the  mayor,  the  chief  of  police, 
or  lesser  officials,  had  just  been  condemned  to  five, 
three,  or  two  years  of  prison.  The  suit  being  tried  at 
that  time  was  on  the  question  of  the  corruption  of  the 
Gas  Company;  the  vice-president  of  the  Telephone 
Company  had  just  been  locked  up;  and  the  case  of  the 
restaurants,  and  I  don't  know  how  many  others,  had 
already  been  settled. 

It  was  difficult  for  me  to  get  to  the  rights  of  this 
question;  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  and  even 
Father  Stark,  made  it  clear  to  me  that  they  did  not  con 
sider  it  a  subject  for  investigation  by  a  foreigner.  As 
well,  though,  as  I  could  understand  the  accusations, 
and  without  wishing  in  the  least  to  decide  to  what  ex 
tent  they  were  well-founded  as  to  the  men  in  question, 
I  will  try  to  give  a  short  summary  of  it.  As  the  mu 
nicipality  of  San  Francisco  passes,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
for  having  held  the  record  for  "  graft,"  both  a  little 
before  and  a  little  after  the  earthquake,  what  is  said  of 
it,  whether  true  or  false,  will  give  an  idea  of  what,  in 
greater  or  less  degree,  has  been  charged  against  other 
municipalities  in  the  United  States.  Without,  of 
course,  falling  into  all  abuses  at  the  same  time,  their 


SAN   FRANCISCO  289 

administration  is  open  to  blame  more  frequently,  prob 
ably,  than  happens  in  France,  and  the  extent  of  their 
peculation  is  in  proportion  to  the  wealth  of  the  budgets 
they  control  or  exploit.  As  money  is  not  lacking,  and 
as  the  intervention  of  public  power  in  private  life  is 
habitually  reduced  to  a  minimum,  good  citizens,  in 
truth,  do  not  suffer  much  by  this  state  of  things,  and 
they  prefer  to  pay  a  little  more  for  the  baseness  of  those 
who  hold  office  than  to  take  upon  themselves  the  care 
of  public  affairs.  But  when  the  "  boodle  aldermen  " 
go  beyond  the  usual  bounds,  they  run  into  a  triple  coal 
ition:  their  political  adversaries,  always  ready  to 
pounce  down  upon  them;  the  honest  people  who  are  just 
as  brave  as  they  themselves;  and  finally,  the  author 
ities,  usually  of  the  greatest  integrity,  representing  the 
State  or  the  Federal  Government.  Then  energetic  re 
pressions  follow,  and  virtue  reigns  again;  reigns  until 
their  successors  in  turn  allow  themselves  to  be  tempted, 
and  provoke  once  more  a  similar  proceeding. 

The  mayor,  Mr.  Eugene  Schmitz;  the  "boss"  or 
head  of  the  electoral  committees,  Mr.  Abraham  Ruef ; 
and  the  chief  of  police,  Mr.  J.  F.  Dinan,  who  had  all 
three  been  arrested  when  I  was  at  San  Francisco, — 
a  spectacle  not  to  be  met  with  everywhere,  —  had  al 
ready,  in  1904,  been  accused  of  trafficking  with  their 
influence;  but  their  adversaries  could  not  bring  suffi 
cient  proof,  and  the  Grand  Jury  acquitted  them  in 
August,  1905.  At  the  next  elections,  a  few  months 
afterwards,  a  fusion  programme  between  Democrats 
and  Republicans  was  completely  defeated  by  them, 


290     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

thanks  to  the  support  of  the  Labor  Union.  The  latter 
cared  for  but  one  thing,  a  rise  in  wages,  which  had  al 
ready  doubled  under  their  administration.  "  Suppose 
they  do  put  money  in  their  pockets,"  said  the  workpeo 
ple,  "  at  any  rate  it  is  not  out  of  ours  that  they  take  it." 
Not  only  did  they  sit  alone  in  the  municipal  council, 
but  their  friends  or  their  creatures  held  every  other  elec 
tive  office,  even  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  who  control 
the  city's  expenditures;  so  that  nothing  stood  in  their 
way. 

Then,  if  we  must  believe  their  accusers,  the  reign  of 
blackmail  and  fraud  began.  Saloon-keepers  and  pro 
prietors  of  houses  of  ill-fame,  in  order  to  have  their 
licenses  renewed,  had  to  buy  their  whiskey,  beer,  cham 
pagne,  and  cigars  of  the  houses  that  stood  in  with  the 
mayor  and  the  police.  As  most  of  them  were  con 
stantly  infringing  on  their  licenses  by  selling  alcohol 
to  minors,  by  having  secret  entrances,  and  by  admis 
sions  of  gamblers  and  crooks,  as  well  as  by  a  host  of 
other  misdemeanors,  they  were  compelled  to  give  in 
and  order  the  right  brand  if  they  did  not  wish  to  shut 
up  shop.  The  "  French  restaurants "  —  and  this 
name,  used  contemptuously,  conveys  an  unpleasant 
tribute  to  us, —  were  accused,  not  without  apparent 
reason,  of  offering  too  great  facilities  for  immorality; 
but  as  the  accusation  did  not  originate  in  any  love  of 
virtue,  it  was  abandoned  as  soon  as  they  retained  the 
boss,  Abraham  Ruef,  as  their  council  at  the  modest  fee 
of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  two  years.  The  "  protec 
tion"  of  this  lawyer  and  his  friend,  the  mayor,  was 


SAN   FRANCISCO  291 

rewarded  in  similar  fashion  by  gambling-houses  and 
by  many  more  or  less  respectable  establishments;  so 
much  so  that  just  before  the  earthquake  this  extortion 
was  carried  on  to  the  tune  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  it  seems.  The  advice  of 
the  all-powerful  lawyer  was  equally  prized  by  the  com 
panies  who  had  to  deal  with  the  city  for  gas,  electricity, 
telephones,  and  street  cars.  Under  this  head,  he  re 
ceived,  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which, 
however,  he  had  divided  with  the  mayor  and  the  sup 
ervisors. 

The  graft,  as  may  be  imagined,  extended  from  the 
high  officials  down  to  the  holders  of  petty  offices,  and 
venality  had  infiltrated  everywhere.  The  finest  point 
is  that  it  attacked  the  police  itself,  and  that  Dinan,  the 
chief,  after  having  discharged  all  honest  officers,  had 
thus  organized  the  best  possible  band  of  robbers.  Any 
one  caught  in  a  delinquency  knew  the  surest  way  of 
preventing  prosecution.  It  has  even  been  stated,  but 
not  proved,  that  many  times  rogues  had  but  to  give 
up  a  part  of  their  plunder  to  be  allowed  to  keep  the  rest 
in  peace.  The  earthquake,  as  invariably  happens  in 
such  cases,  though  it  brought  forth  much  admirable 
self-sacrifice,  gave  at  the  same  time  opportunity  for 
the  most  shameful  pillage.  The  looting  among  the 
mass  of  ruins  was  practically  given  over  to  chance, 
which  as  a  matter  of  fact,  meant  the  daring  exploita 
tion  by  brigands.  The  police  refrained  from  disturb 
ing  them;  and  mention  is  made  of  one  owner  who  could 
not  obtain  the  arrest  of  robbers  who  were  carrying  off 


292     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

four  copper  boilers  weighing  five  hundred  pounds  each 
—  a  theft  that  could  be  easily  seen  nevertheless.  "  If 
they  don't  take  them,"  calmly  replied  the  policeman 
of  that  beat,  "  some  one  else  will."  After  the  burning 
of  twenty-five  thousand  buildings,  the  strictest  super 
vision  could  not  have  entirely  prevented  looting,  but 
there  was  virtually  no  supervision  at  all.  The  reopen 
ing  of  traffic  could  alone  put  an  end  to  this,  or  at  least 
curtail  it  after  it  had  enriched  many  robbers  and  more 
than  one  policeman. 

More  than  the  average  courage  was  required  on  the 
part  of  those  citizens  who  undertook  to  stop  this  flood 
of  abuses  and  peculations.  Right  feeling  stood  for  a 
great  deal,  party  feeling  for  the  rest;  funds  were  col 
lected,  and  public  opinion  was  stirred  up  by  meetings 
and  by  the  press;  traps  were  laid  for  the  peculators; 
and  one,  in  particular,  of  the  municipal  supervisors, 
having  an  appointment  in  a  place  arranged  before  hand 
to  catch  him,  accepted  a  bribe  before  the  eyes  of  con 
cealed  witnesses.  When  the  matter  was  ripe,  it  was 
laid  clearly  before  the  authorities  in  Washington. 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  administration  was  not  to  be  fright 
ened  by  such  work.  The  affair  was  brought  before  jus 
tice  and  investigated  thoroughly;  fines  and  years  of 
imprisonment  fell,  as  thick  as  hail,  on  the  corrupt  offi 
cials,  even  on  their  corrupters,  and  on  those  companies 
who  had  advanced  the  money  as  well  as  on  those  who 
had  accepted  it.  In  prison  was  the  all-powerful  boss 
who  had  held  up  the  whole  town;  in  prison,  the  brig 
and  who  had  the  police  under  his  orders  when  he 


SAN   FRANCISCO  293 

should  have  had  them  at  his  heels;  in  prison,  the 
mayor,  Schmitz,  who  was,  it  seems,  the  most  innocent 
of  the  three,  although  that  is  not  saying  much.  The 
cleaning-out  was  thorough,  and  the  lesson,  one  would 
think,  of  a  nature  to  bear  fruit  for  many  years  to  come. 
San  Francisco  rose  from  its  moral  ruin  as  it  had  done 
from  its  material;  it  was  a  complete  resurrection. 

In  spite  of  the  optimism  that  is  dominant  in  these 
travel  notes,  and  which  I  certainly  have  no  intention  of 
retracting,  since  it  arises  naturally  from  the  facts  I  have 
experienced,  I  realize  that,  as  just  shown,  the  United 
States  has  its  faults  and  its  difficulties,  or,  if  you  like, 
its  maladies.  I  am  willing  to  acknowledge  that  it 
often  pushes  these,  like  everything  else,  farther  than  we 
of  old  Europe  would  do.  But  it  is  only  just  to  admit 
that  with  its  healthy  organism,  its  energy,  its  confidence 
and  its  civism,  it  gets  the  better  of  the  ill  or  obstacle 
every  time  it  becomes  conscious  of  it  and  considers  it 
sufficiently  dangerous.  The  same  ordeals,  moral  or 
physical,  that  might  lay  low  the  old  and  the  weak,  at 
tack  but  lightly  and  for  a  short  time  the  young  and 
vigorous. 

Thus  America  is  no  more  protected  against  the  dis 
turbances  of  the  proletariat  than  is  Europe.  This 
problem  came  before  me  in  a  striking  manner  during 
my  sojourn  in  San  Francisco.  The  first  Monday  in 
September,  which'  was  the  very  day  on  which  I  was 
innocently  enjoying  the  flowers  of  San  Rafael,  was  of 
course,  Labor  Day,  so  named  because  everyone  rests 


AMERICA   OF    TO-MORROW 


on  it!  In  die  United  States  and  Canada  it  is  an  insti- 
:•.::  ;-  -  -  '..:-  ::  :~:  Y  --:  ::  M.i;  r.  Fr.in«  F  fty- 
me  thousand  imdbas  of  the  Labor  Unions  marched 
in  two  pqlectlw  drilled  proces^oos.  and  everything 
would  doobtkss  have  passed  err  as  usual,  had  not  one 
of  ike  puades  met,  near  die  ferryboats,  one  of  die  cars 
that  die  United  Street  Car  Company  had  succtreded  in 
running  for  many  months  in  spite  of  an  obstinate 
strike.  The  struggle  had  already  cost  die  company 
JMndifdi  of  thousands  of  dollars  as  they  could  not  get 
strike-breakers  except  at  fabulous  prices;  who.  in  spite 
of  alwas  workin  full  aimed,  still  were  in  constant 


.-.  rr.ir.- 

ges,  and  impossible  car- 
riagcs  of  e^rry  dcscripdon.     At  the  risk  of  losing  much 


die  car  wne  easy  to  forest.  When  dse  army  of  work 
men  iJi^rt  sght  of  one  of  these  detested  cars,  they 

'  :.i  -.  .:  '  ~  :~  ':-;-:-  :.-..:  :"--:  :  "  :r  "r.i-  r  j  hisTrr.rJ 
"  "  "  -  -  :.  -  ~  :  -.  ~  ".~  :.-•-;"•.:"  7  i  r:ir.v 

mkfci^ht.     It  was  a  curious 

..       ~  .2".     .-IT.      ~    C7'^     f*    "~l7 

-  :  —  if.  "  *  .*  :  :~  7  :  rmnn"  r  rr.-rr.  ~  :T.~  rf- 
fiilfus^  imder  die  |MiHetliuQ  of  a  wearied  pcrfke.  The 
balance  sheet  of  the  attray  was  not  too  heavy  though: 
it  came  to  only  two  dead,  seren  seriously  wounded  and 

'  '          •  ---.-.  V-  -       -      -_;       -,-_.-_._--_        ;^-. 


SAN   FRANCISCO  295 

mish  in  a  very  long  war  that  had  known  some  violent 
battles. 

The  solidarity  between  workmen  is  more  advanced 
at  San  Francisco  than  almost  anywhere  in  the  world. 
Two  great  organizations  distinct  from,  yet  allied  to, 
each  other  under  the  name  of  Labor  Unions  and  cap 
able,  at  need,  of  acting  in  concert  as  we  have  seen  in  the 
double  procession  of  that  second  of  September,  enroll 
between  them  almost  all  the  workingmea.  They  are 
the  Building  Trades,  and  the  Labor  Council,  which 
unite  one  hundred  and  five  societies  of  workmen  of  all 
sorts,  printers,  engineers,  street-car  drivers,  and  others. 
If  one  of  these  corporations  has  a  claim  to  enforce,  its 
president  can  ask,  demand  even,  the  support  of  all  the 
others,  and  the  employers  are  obliged  to  parley  with 
him. 

Being  always  of  the  opinion  that  a  few  clear  ideas 
on  a  single  point  are  more  instructive  than  a  broader, 
vaguer  review  of  the  whole,  I  asked  a  very  intelligent 
manager  of  a  printing-house  and  a  newspaper*  what 
was  the  organization  of  his  workmen,  and  in  what  re 
lation  he  stood  to  them. 

li  The  printers,"  he  explained  to  me,  ''  have  what 
they  call  an  international  headquarters,  which,  in  spite 
of  its  name,  does  not  extend  its  influence  beyond  the 
U nited  States.  Besides  this  general  office,  each  State 
and  each  city  even,  has  other  offices  and  other  branches. 
When  a  dispute  arises  with  an  employer  they  have  re 
course  to  a  tribunal  of  three  arbiters  chosen,  one  by  the 

*Tke  San  Fraxdsco  Ckrtnulc. 


296     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

employer,  one  by  the  workmen,  and  a  third  by  the 
first  two.  Should  the  arbitration  fail,  it  is  the  inter 
national  office  that  gives  a  decision;  and  if  this  is  not 
accepted  by  the  employer,  a  strike  is  declared.  "  Here," 
he  added,  "  we  have  an  arbitration  treaty  valid  for  five 
years  between  the  director  and  the  workmen.  The 
clauses  are  observed  by  every  one,  and  we  have  peace ; 
we  are,  in  a  way,  guaranteed  against  strikes.  We  em 
ploy  only  Union  men.  When  a  dispute  comes  up, 
they  must  go  on  working;  if  it  is  a  question  of  salary 
and  the  Union  upholds  them,  the  employer  is  obliged 
to  pay  the  increase  from  the  beginning  of  the  litiga 
tion.  But  these  salaries  and  the  number  of  hours  of 
work  are  fixed  by  a  convention,  and  they  cannot  be 
changed  except  by  common  consent  or  by  an  arbitration 
decision.  A  month  ago,  four  engineers  and  three 
stokers  came  to  tell  me  that  there  were  not  enough  men 
for  the  work  and  that  they  needed  helpers.  When  I 
refused  to  increase  their  number,  they  said  they  would 
go  on  strike  on  the  fifteenth  of  August.  I  sent  for 
the  engineers'  register,  and  I  found  that  neither  they 
nor  the  stokers  were  Union  men;  so  I  simply  refused 
to  discuss  the  matter  with  them  and  they  had  to  give 
way." 

I  could  not  refrain  from  remarking  that  that  seemed 
a  pretty  good  argument  for  the  Unions.  My  inter 
locutor,  who  was  young  and  broad-minded,  readily 
agreed  with  me,  and  he  willingly  admitted  that  the 
employers  themselves  have  every  advantage  in  dealing, 
not  with  an  incoherent  proletariat  exposed  to  the  se- 


SAN  FRANCISCO  297 

ductions  of  all  sorts  of  leaders,  but  with  regular,  power 
ful,  and  responsible  organizations,  having  their  own 
resources  and  capable  of  rising,  little  by  little,  to  that 
understanding  of  the  real  conditions  of  work,  without 
which  no  serious  discussions  or  lasting  treaties  can  be 
hoped  for. 

I  took  advantage  of  meeting  this  enlightened  em 
ployer  to  ask  him  what  he  thought  of  the  increase  of 
socialism  in  the  United  States  and  its  chances  of  suc 
cess.  He  agreed  that  in  America,  as  in  other  republics, 
the  growing  diffusion  of  economic  Utopias  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  people,  legitimate1'7"  anxious  to  edu 
cate  themselves  in  social  questions  u  at  bear  on  their 
lives  to  the  utmost  degree,  find  only  ignorant  men,  men 
of  warped  mind,  or  agitators,  to  speak  to  them,  where 
as  they  should  have  placed  at  their  service  all  that  is 
most  disinterested  and  competent.  But  he  added  that, 
in  spite  of  this  holding  back  of  the  enlightened,  social 
ism  in  the  United  States  would  always  find  an  almost 
insuperable  obstacle  in  the  Constitution  itself,  by  which 
everything  touching  on  labor  laws  comes  under  the 
questions  left  to  each  State  to  decide;  and  except  for 
the  very  small  number  of  employees  or  workmen  who 
would  come  under  the  Federal  power,  Congress,  or  in 
default  of  that,  the  Supreme  Court,  would  certainly 
refer  to  the  State  Governments  all  discussions  on  the 
limiting  of  working  hours,  on  salaries,  and  on  woman 
and  child  labor.  Therefore  there  is  and  can  be  no  po 
litical  socialism  in  the  United  States.  Besides,  finished 
my  informant,  and  I  leave  the  responsibility  of  this 


298     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

statement  on  him,  Congress  in  Washington  has  not  a 
single  socialist  member,  and  the  number  is  negligible 
in  the  Senates  and  Houses  of  Representatives  of  the 
different  States. 


ifT. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  REAL  PROBLEM  OF  TO-MORROW:  THE 

JAPANESE  QUESTION 

* 
DIFFICULTIES;  THE  GREATEST  OF  ALL  —  DECEITFUL 

CALM THE  SCHOOL  QUESTION  IN  1QO6;  TEM 
PORARY  ARRANGEMENT FRIENDLY  GOVERN 
MENTS  AND  HOSTILE  PEOPLES:  THE  AGREEMENTS  OF 

IQOS    AND    THE     DISAGREEMENTS    OF     IQOQ THE 

REAL  CAUSES  OF  THE  CONFLICT THE  QUESTION  OF 

SALARIES    AND    OF    THE    STANDARD    OF    LIFE THE 

DEMOCRATIC  IDEAL  AND  THE  NECESSITY  OF  ASSIM 
ILATION  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  YELLOW  IM 
MIGRATION INEFFECTUAL  SOLUTIONS:  THAT  THE 

GOVERNMENTS  DO  NOT  WISH  FOR  WAR,  AND  THAT 
IT  WOULD  SOLVE  NOTHING OF  THE  RAPPROCHE 
MENT  THAT  WOULD  BE  BROUGHT  ABOUT  BY  THE 

CONVERSION  OF  THE  JAPANESE  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

THE  SLOWNESS  AND  DIFFICULTIES  OF  EVANGELIZA 
TION SOME  HOPEFUL  SIGNS A  PARTIAL  SOLU 
TION:  THE  INCREASE  IN  THE  NUMBER  OF  WHITES 

ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST CALIFORNIAN  WEALTH  

THE  REAL  STRENGTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES:  AN 
OPTIMISTIC  AND  FREE  PEOPLE. 

A  STILL  graver  difficulty  than  the  labor  question 
^*  has  come  up  recently  at  San  Francisco  with  'an 
acuteness  it  has  not  attained  elsewhere.  The  Japanese 

299 


300     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

question —  one  can  guess  that  it  is  that  —  must  not  fail 
to  be  examined  as  thoroughly  as  possible  at  the  end  of 
a  work  devoted  to  America  of  to-morrow.  In  a  way, 
it  is  its  natural  conclusion. 

Among  the  various  problems  which  lie  before  the 
great  democracy  of  the  United  States,  always  shifting 
and  in  process  of  transformation  like  life  itself,  the 
most  serious  is  not  that  of  the  relation  of  capital  to 
labor,  which  here,  as  elsewhere,  is  often  strained,  but 
which  is  preserved  from  socialism  by  the  instinctive 
love  of  initiative  and  the  inveterate  habit  of  decentrali 
zation.  Nor  is  it  the  political  problem,  in  spite  of  the 
municipal  corruption  existing  in  large  cities;  the  public 
officers,  having  but  little  power,  could  not  do  much 
harm,  even  were  they  not  guaranteed,  as  they  are, 
against  their  own  excesses  by  the  strength  of  the 
Executive  and  by  the  ever  powerful  vigilance  of  the  Su 
preme  Court.  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  the  rela 
tions  between  the  State  and  religious  institutions  do 
not  present  the  least  difficulty,  the  basis  being  mutual 
respect  and  independence.  The  real,  the  great  problem 
in  the  United  States  is  the  race  question,  the  necessity 
of  securing  the  national  character,  at  whatever  cost, 
against  the  extraordinary  variety  of  peoples  pouring  in 
each  year  from  every  corner  of  the  globe.  The  diffi 
culty  of  assimilation  varies  naturally  according  to  the 
origin  of  the  immigrants.  Without  going  in  detail  into 
a  question  which  in  itself  would  require  volumes,  we 
may,  in  a  general  manner,  assert  that  all  the  whites, 
especially  those  from  the  northwest  of  Europe,  be- 


THE   JAPANESE  QUESTION     301 

come  at  the  end  of  the  second  generation,  if  not  within 
a  few  years,  finished  Americans,  and  that  they  would 
not  stand  being  treated  as  newcomers  or  sons  of  for 
eigners.  But  so  far,  two  sorts  of  men  have  remained 
opposed  to  assimilation :  the  blacks  and  the  yellow  men. 
Ancf  from  this  fact,  if  I  may  say  so,  arise  two  clouds 
that  throw  their  threats,  or  at  least  their  ever  growing 
shadow,  athwart  the  otherwise  brilliant  sky  of  the 
great  Republic. 

We  shall  not  dwell  on  the  "  black  "  question.  Apart 
from  the  fact  that  we  have  already  spoken  of  it  in  "  The 
Land  of  the  Strenuous  Life,"*  it  always  presents  itself 
in  the  same  terms  in  which  it  has  already  been  set  forth 
many  times ;  and  the  danger  from  it  is  limited,  since  no 
one  would,  in  the  end,  interfere  with  Americans  taking 
any  steps  against  the  negro  that  may  seem  to  them 
advisable.  The  yellow  question,  on  the  contrary,  has 
recently  appeared  on  the  horizon  in  a  very  urgent  form. 
The  yellow  peril,  but  recently  removed  from  the  night 
mares  of  Europe,  emigrated  to  the  other  hemisphere, 
toward  Australia,  which  replied  provisionally  by  a  boy 
cott;  toward  South  America,  which  has  not  yet  per 
ceived  its  importance;  toward  North  America,  and 
especially  the  United  States,  where  it  was  looked  upon 
as  a  question  already  solved  by  the  law  against  Chinese 
immigration,  but  which  arose  more  pressing  than  ever 
with  the  arrival  of  the  many  sober  and  clever  Japanese, 
who  felt  themselves  protected  by  a  powerful  nation. 
The  yellow  peril  this  time  is  neither  a  hypothesis  nor  a 

*Chap.  XIV. 


302     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

prophecy,  but  a  phenomenon  in  process  of  realization; 
it  is  neither  the  idea  of  a  sociologist  nor  the  invention 
of  politicians.  It  is  the  actual  encounter  and  the  ma 
terial  struggle  of  groups  of  simple  men  given  over  to 
the  forces  of  nature;  it  is  the  already  discernible  im 
pact  of  the  Japanese  and  American  workmen. 

When  I  was  at  San  Francisco,  in  September,  1907, 
a  certain  calm  reigned.  No  doubt  the  workmen  and 
small  shopkeepers  felt  and  deplored  the  effects  of  the 
yellow  competition.  No  doubt  the  anti-Japanese  move 
ment  which  was  then  at  its  height  in  British  Colum 
bia,  awoke  the  deepest  sympathy  in  California,  and 
the  press  there  joined  in  the  chorus  of  the  Vancouver 
papers  against  the  invading  Asia.  No  doubt  the  people 
were  not  insensible  to  the  recent  announcement  of  the 
voyage  around  the  world  that  the  Atlantic  Squadron 
was  to  undertake,  and  they  planned  a  hearty  reception 
for  the  warships  that,  leaving  Hampton  Roads  at  the 
end  of  the  year,  should,  six  months  later,  after  doubling 
Cape  Horn,  touch  at  San  Francisco,  and  start  off  again 
from  there  to  show  to  the  Philippines,  to  Japan,  to 
China  and  to  Europe,  what  henceforth,  may  be  ex 
pected  of  the  American  navy.  But  nevertheless,  there 
was  no  longer  the  excitement  of  the  preceding  year 
when  many  wished,  in  spite  of  President  Roosevelt, 
and  at  the  risk  of  inciting  immediate  war,  to  close  to 
the  Japanese  the  public  schools  attended  by  white 
children;  nor  did  there  seem  to  be  any  thought  of  the 
effort  that  was  to  be  made  in  the  beginning  of  1909  to 


THE  JAPANESE   QUESTION     303 

refuse  to  all  Asiatics,  not  only  the  entry  of  the  public 
schools,  but  ordinary  property  rights. 

When,  like  almost  all  travellers,  I  was  interviewed 
by  tfce  reporters,  I  said  that  a  war  between  Japan  and 
America  would  be  calamitous  for  both  countries,  and 
an  outrage  against  human  progress;  and  these 
declarations  were  printed  as  being  quite  natural 
and  without  any  contradiction  being  offered  to 
them.  When  I,  in  my  turn,  asked  questions  about 
the  Japanese,  the  replies  I  received  were  tinged, 
if  not  with  sympathy,  at  least  with  impartiality. 
If  the  Chinese  were  penned  up  in  their  newly  rebuilt 
quarter,  no  one  thought  of  disturbing  them  there,  and 
no  street  seemed  more  quiet  than  the  principal  one 
where  their  little  shops  were  grouped,  which  ran  close 
to  our  Paulist  residence,  and  which  bore,  rather  as  a 
sign  of  the  commonplace  than  as  a  threat,  the  un-exotic 
name  of  Dupont  Street.  And  if  the  Japanese,  who  had 
vacated  these  quarters  since  the  earthquake,  dispersing 
on  all  sides,  still  continued  to  live  together  in  groups, 
they  were  at  least  nowhere  refused  the  lease  of  houses, 
for  which,  however,  they  had  to  pay  very  high  rents; 
and  any  whites  who  objected  to  their  vicinity  contented 
themselves  with  quietly  removing  their  lares  and 
fenates  elsewhere.  In  short,  the  fire  was  smouldering 
under  ashes,  and  unlike  the  conflagration  lighted  by  the 
earthquake,  it  was  not  the  kind  to  burn  out  at  the  end 
of  a  few  days.  This  time  the  danger  was  not  a  passing 
cataclysm,  but  a  permanent  source  of  trouble,  of  which 


304     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

the    first    symptoms    were    beginning    to    come    into 
evidence. 

Americans  have  but  just  noticed  the  danger  that 
threatens  them.  Until  the  last  few  years,  Japan  in 
spired  them  only  with  admiration  and  sympathy. 
They  liked  its  courage  and  enterprise  and  the  ease  with 
which  it  could  assimilate  all  kinds  of  modern  progress. 
They  remembered  being  the  first  to  open  up,  in  1854, 
to  international  commerce,  this  country  which  had  been 
closed  to  it  for  two  centuries,  and  they  were  proud  of 
the  advance  it  had  made  since  then.  A  little  before  it 
had  declared  war  with  Russia,  in  1903,  I  had  found 
them  full  of  fellow-feeling  for  it,  and  indignant  at  the 
procrastination  of  Petersburg  in  fulfilling  its  promise  to 
evacuate  Manchuria.  They  had  applauded  the  Jap 
anese  victories  and  their  President's  efforts  to  make 
peace.  If  they  began,  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of 
Portsmouth  and  coming  within  closer  range  of  the  ques 
tion,  to  understand  that  the  Japanese,  freed  by  the 
Russian  defeat  from  their  greatest  anxiety  of  the 
Asiatic  shore,  could  thenceforth  direct  their  efforts  to 
the  other  coast  of  the  Pacific,  they  nevertheless  con 
tinued  to  hold  friendly  relations  with  them;  and  they 
had,  in  spite  of  the  importance  of  their  colony  at  Seoul, 
been  the  first  to  withdraw  their  representative  at  the 
court  of  the  Emperor  of  Corea  to  please  Japan. 
Official  thanks  were  addressed  to  the  United  States 
Government  for  the  "  friendly  disposition  it  had  once 
more  evidenced,"  and,  in  return,  Japanese  friendliness 


THE   JAPANESE  QUESTION     305 

seized  the  opportunity  to  manifest  itself  offered  by  the 
visit  of  Miss  Roosevelt,  of  the  American  financiers  who 
had  played  such  an  important  role  at  the  time  of  the 
war,  and  of  Secretary  Taft,  who  was  already  looked 
upon^as  the  next  President. 

To  those  who  still  judge  the  advance  of  human  af 
fairs  by  the  attitude  of  official  personages  or  by  the  ar 
rangements,  though  sincere,  that  may  be  concluded 
between  the  Governments,  the  surprise  must  have  been 
great  when,  at  the  end  of  1906,  it  was  suddenly  re 
vealed  to  them  that  such  difficulties  had  arisen  in  Cali 
fornia  between  Japan  and  the  United  States  that  it 
was  a  question  whether  they  would  not  lead  to  an  im 
mediate  call  to  arms.  What  had  happened  that  was  so 
grave?  Simply  a  decree  of  the  Board  of  Education  of 
San  Francisco  ordering  "  all  Chinese,  Japanese,  and 
Corean  children  to  be  sent  to  the  Oriental  public 
school,"  that  is  to  say,  merely  carrying  out  the  measures 
that  had  been  announced  the  year  before  "  not  to  ex 
pose  American  children  to  contact  with  pupils  of  Mon 
golian  race."  It  is  true  that  legitimate  complaints  had 
been  made  against  the  impropriety  of  leaving  among 
the  little  children  of  the  primary  schools  some  forty 
backward  youths  born  in  Japan;  but  as  these  formed 
but  a  very  small  minority  even  when  added  to  the 
forty  other  Japanese  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  it  will 
be  admitted  that  the  danger  was  not  great,  and  that,  in 
any  case,  there  were  better  means  of  averting  it  than 
by  representing  the  Japanese  in  a  general  and  far- 
reaching  act,  as  an  inferior  race,  association  with  which 


3o6     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

was  morally  dangerous.  The  natural  excitement 
raised  by  such  an  offensive  measure  among  the 
Japanese,  still  puffed  up,  as  they  were,  over  their  Rus 
sian  victories,  was  at  once  taken  under  serious  consider 
ation  by  the  Government  of  Washington.  Strong  in 
the  treaty  of  1894,  which  assured  to  Americans  and 
Japanese  residing  each  in  the  other's  country,  the  treat 
ment  due  to  the  most  favored  nation,  the  Federal  power 
instituted  a  suit  against  the  San  Francisco  authorities, 
to  defend  its  own  prerogatives  in  matters  of  interna 
tional  importance  and  to  determine  the  limits  of  sov 
ereignty  left  to  the  States  individually.  Herein  lies 
what  has  become  the  weak  point  of  the  admirable 
American  Constitution,  the  new  necessity  which  must 
some  day  be  taken  into  account,  of  specifying,  in  an 
other  amendment,  the  diplomatic  authority  of  the 
Federal  power,  and  giving  it  the  means  of  imposing 
on  the  different  States  a  respect  for  its  international 
agreements. 

As  always  happens  with  practical  people,  the  ques 
tion  of  the  San  Francisco  schools  was  settled  in  fact, 
though  not  solved  by  law.  At  the  end  of  five  months 
of  litigation  the  Board  of  Education  withdrew  the  ob 
jectionable  measure.  The  Calif ornians  had  at  least 
obtained  their  main  end,  which  was  to  compel  the 
country  at  large  to  examine  into  the  yellow  question 
once  more,  and  to  bring  up  the  question  whether  it 
would  be  advisable  to  make  the  Chinese  immigration 
laws  applicable  to  the  Japanese  as  well. 

Some  disturbances,  easily  quelled,  but  nevertheless 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     307 

significant,  accompanied  this  first  phase  of  the  conflict. 
From  the  third  to  the  twenty-fourth  of  October,  the 
Japanese  restaurants  of  San  Francisco  had  been  boy 
cotted  by  the  Cooks'  and  Waiters'  Union,  whose  mem 
bers  prevented  clients  from  entering,  and  threw  stones 
at  the  shop-windows.  But  an  opportune  offer  of  five 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  decided  the  boycott  leader  to 
restore  quiet.  A  more  serious  demonstration  was  the 
assaulting  of  well  known  Japanese  in  the  streets  by 
rowdies,  which  called  forth  from  Mr.  Roosevelt  an 
energetic  warning  to  the  city  authorities  that  if  they 
could  not  protect  the  persons  and  possessions  of  the 
Japanese  in  accordance  with  international  law,  "  the 
entire  power  of  the  Federal  Government  would  be 
exerted,  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  to  exact 
promptly  and  energetically,  the  respect  of  the  treaties, 
the  highest  law  of  the  country,  and  to  assure  proper 
treatment  to  the  people  of  a  great  and  friendly  power 
in  the  territory  of  the  United  States." 

The  next  two  years  passed  more  calmly,  perhaps 
because  the  Unions  of  San  Francisco,  though  preserving 
their  hostility  toward  Japanese  labor,  were  not  in  a  po 
sition  to  dictate  vexatious  measures,  no  longer  having 
as  before,  the  municipal  authority  dependent  on  them. 
But  the  league  for  the  exclusion  of  Asiatics  went  on 
developing  just  the  same  in  California  along  with  the 
leagues  in  Oregon,  Washington,  and  British  Columbia; 
and  at  a  convention  held  in  Seattle  in  February,  1908, 
it  combined  with  all  the  others  under  the  name  of 
North  American  Exclusion  League.  No  doubt  it  was 


308     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

at  the  instigation  of  this  powerful  association  that  the 
first  weeks  of  1909  were  to  see  the  storm  gather  again 
at  the  very  moment  that  it  seemed  to  be  the  least  ex 
pected:  when  the  squadron,  that  had  just  completed 
the  circumnavigation  of  the  globe,  was  about  to  take 
up  its  station  once  more  in  the  Atlantic  waters,  and  just 
after  the  Governments  of  Tokio  and  Washington  had 
come  to  an  agreement  to  suppress  between  them  all 
causes  of  dispute. 

It  is  important  to  note  this  last  coincidence.  It 
brings  out  clearly,  on  one  side  the  seriousness  of  the 
conflict  which  is  thus  manifested  between  the  two  peo 
ples  at  the  same  time  as  the  Governments  are  conclud 
ing  public  agreements;  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  look 
at  it  purely  from  the  American  side  of  the  question, 
the  inward  gravity  of  a  situation  which  brings  the  Fed 
eral  power  into  such  direct  opposition  to  the  public 
opinion  of  several  States.  If  it  should  ever  happen  — 
there  is  no  question  of  it  now  —  that  Washington 
should  have  to  have  recourse  to  force  to  exact  from  the 
Western  States  a  respect  for  its  treaties,  or  leave  Japan 
under  the  shadow  of  one  of  those  insults  that  would 
surely  entail  war,  what  power  in  the  world  would  be 
capable  of  arresting  the  course  of  destiny  *? 

On  the  thirtieth  of  November,  1908,  Baron  Taka- 
hira,  the  Japanese  Ambassador,  and  Mr.  Root,  Secre 
tary  of  State,  exchanged  at  Washington  the  following 
Notes ; 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     309 

From  Baron  Takahira  to  Mr.  Root: 

WASHINGTON,  30  November,  1908. 
SIR: 

The  exchange  of  views  between  us,  which  has  taken  place 
at  the  several  interviews  which  I  have  recently  had  the  honor 
of  holding  with  you,  has  shown  that  Japan  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  holding  important  outlying  insular  pos 
sessions  in  the  region  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  are  animated  by  a 
common  aim,  policy,  and  intention  in  that  region.  Believing 
that  a  frank  avowal  of  that  aim,  policy,  and  intention  would 
not  only  tend  to  strengthen  relations  of  friendship  and  good 
neighborhood  which  have  immemorially  existed  between  Japan 
and  the  United  States,  but  would  materially  contribute  to  the 
preservation  of  the  general  peace,  the  Imperial  Government 
has  authorized  me  to  present  you  an  outline  of  its  understand 
ing  of  that  common  aim,  policy,  and  intention. 

1.  It  is  the  wish  of  the  two  Governments  to  encourage  the 
free  and  peaceful  development  of  their  commerce  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean. 

2.  The  policy  of  both  Governments,  uninfluenced  by  any 
aggressive   tendencies,   is   directed   to   the  maintenance  of  the 
existing  status  quo  in  the  region  above  mentioned,  and  to  the 
defence  of  the  principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  the  commerce 
and  industry  of  all  nations  in  China. 

3.  They   are   accordingly    firmly    resolved    reciprocally   to 
respect  the  territorial  possessions  belonging  to  each  other  in  the 
said  region. 

4.  They  are  also  determined  to  preserve  the  common  inter 
ests  of  all  Powers  in  China  by  supporting,  by  all  pacific  means 
at  their  disposal  the  independence  and  integrity  of  China  and  the 
principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  the  commerce  and  industry 
of  all  nations  in  that  Empire. 

5.  Should  any  event  occur  threatening  the  status  as  above 
described,  or  the  principle  of  equal  opportunity  as  above  de- 


310     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

fined,  it  remains  for  the  two  Governments  to  communicate  with 
each  other  in  order  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  as  to  what 
measures  they  may  consider  useful  to  take. 

If  the  foregoing  outline  accords  with  the  view  of  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  I  shall  be  gratified  to  receive  your 
confirmation. 

From  Mr.  Root  to  Baron  Takahira: 
EXCELLENCY: 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  Note 
to-day  setting  forth  the  result  of  the  exchange  of  views  between 
us  in  our  recent  interviews,  defining  the  understanding  of  the 
two  Governments  in  regard  to  their  policy  in  the  region  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  this  expression  of  mutual 
understanding  is  welcome  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  as  appropriate  to  the  happy  relations  of  the  two  countries, 
and  as  the  occasion  for  a  concise  mutual  affirmation  of  that 
accordant  policy  respecting  the  Far  East  which  the  two  Gov 
ernments  have  so  frequently  declared  in  the  past. 

I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  confirm  to  Your  Excellency,  on 
behalf  of  the  United  States,  the  declaration  of  the  two 
Governments. 

And  the  Secretary  of  State  then  repeats,  word  for 
word  the  five  propositions  submitted  by  the 
Ambassador. 

Thus  the  two  Governments  are  perfectly  in  accord  in 
all  that  concerns  the  development  of  the  policy  and 
their  commerce  "  in  the  region  of  the  Pacific  Ocean." 
Europe  applauds  this  agreement;  it  receives  the  appro 
bation  of  the  American  press  and  of  the  Japanese  news 
papers.  The  ambassador  of  the  Mikado  officially 
declares  that  "  what  has  been  accomplished  is  something 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     311 

like  a  transaction  between  trusted  friends.  It  is  sin 
cerely  to  be  hoped  that  the  people  of  each  country  will 
have  the  same  confidence  as  their  own  Government  in 
respect  tp  the  declaration  of  the  other.  Friendly  inter 
course  and  commercial  relations  will  be  fully 
developed." 

And  such,  perhaps  would  be  the  case  if  everything 
depended  on  commerce  and  policy;  if  there  existed  to 
day  no  social  necessities  of  a  deeper,  more  irreducible 
nature;  if,  diplomats  and  merchants  having  brought 
their  aims  and  interests  into  harmony,  there  did  not 
still  remain  the  question  of  satisfying  the  aspirations 
and  the  needs  of  the  working  world,  of  the  people  in 
search  of  enough  bread  and  better  conditions  of  life. 
And  as  a  matter  of  fact,  for  the  last  year  or  two,  though 
the  Government  of  Tokio,  to  please  that  of  Washing 
ton,  declared  that  the  emigration  of  its  subjects  should 
be  diverted  from  America  and  directed  toward  Corea, 
Formosa  and  Manchuria,  their  movements  toward  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  and  the  American  coast  were  in  no 
way  restricted.  And,  on  its  side,  the  Government  of 
Washington,  though  it  recalled  the  energy  of  its  atti 
tude  toward  the  anti- Japanese  manoeuvres  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  even  promised  still  greater  energy  for  the 
future,  it  remained  to  be  seen  to  what  point  the  West 
erners  would  consent  to  consider  this. 

On  this  point  the  doubt  did  not  last  long.  From  the 
beginning  of  January,  1909,  six  weeks  after  the  ex 
change  of  notes,  it  was  learned  that  bills  had  been  pre 
sented  to  the  California  Legislature  proposing  to  forbid 


312      AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

Asiatics,  Japanese  included,  from  owning  property  in 
this  State,  from  being  trustees  of  corporations  and,  as 
in  1906,  from  sending  their  children  to  the  same 
schools  as  the  whites.  The  Tokio  press  without  de 
parting  from  its  sang  froid,  declared  that  the  voting  of 
such  measures  would  undoubtedly  imperil  the  under 
standing  that  had  just  been  arrived  at.  Mr.  Roosevelt 
telegraphed  to  the  Governor  of  California  that  he  was 
to  use  all  his  power  to  prevent  the  passing  of  the  bill, 
or,  if  necessary  he  was  to  veto  it;  he  dwelt  on  the  recent 
agreement,  which  would  be  compromised  and  of  which 
one  of  the  advantages  was  the  prevention  of  the  immi 
gration  of  Japanese  workmen  in  large  numbers.  The 
Legislature,  thoroughly  Republican  and  composed  of 
staunch  supporters  of  Roosevelt,  hastened  to  give  in  to 
him  as  to  the  two  bills  in  question,  namely,  those  with 
holding  from  the  Japanese  the  right  to  own  property 
and  to  exercise  the  functions  of  trustees.  But  in  the 
beginning  of  February,  it  passed  the  bill  on  separate 
schools,  which  has  been  the  most  wounding  of  all  to 
the  Japanese  pride.  The  Governor  protested  and  de 
manded  that  another  vote  be  taken,  the  President 
threatened  to  have  it  annulled,  as  anti-Constitutional 
by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  Finally 
after  a  month  of  impassioned  agitation,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
carried  the  bill  once  more  and,  on  the  twelfth  of  Feb 
ruary,  by  a  vote  of  41  to  37  the  California  House,  al 
most  in  spite  of  itself,  threw  out  the  offending  bill.  But 
one  can  see  by  how  few  votes  the  victory  of  national 
interest  over  private  passions  was  won.  It  should  be- 


THE   JAPANESE  QUESTION     313 

sides,  be  noted  that  the  feeling  has  spread  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  Legislature  of  Nevada  had  by  their 
votes  encouraged  that  of  California  to  remain  recalci 
trant,  and  that  anti-Japanese  measures  should  also  be 
carried*by  the  States  of  Oregon,  Idaho,  and  Nebraska. 
Thus  it  was  the  whole  West  that  threatened  to  stand 
out  against  the  Japanese  and  to  refuse  them  the  rights 
accorded  to  any  emigrant  of  white  race,  and  this,  as  we 
have  seen,  at  the  beginning  of  1909  immediately  after 
the  exchange  of  friendly  notes  by  Tokio  and  Washing 
ton. 

Such  a  singular  antagonism  and  one  against  which 
the  most  amicable  intentions  and  the  most  formal 
understandings  between  the  two  Governments  are 
powerless,  must  have  some  deep-seated  cause.  Euro 
pean  opinion  recognizes  but  one,  the  question  of  wages, 
the  difference  in  price  demanded  by  a  Japanese  work 
man  for  the  same  piece  of  work  and,  if  that  is  not,  as 
we  shall  see,  the  end  of  the  difficulties,  it  is  at  least  the 
beginning.  First  of  all  we  must  understand  this 
clearly. 

"  In  Western  America,"  writes  Monsieur  Louis  Au- 
bert,  an  excellent  judge,  "  the  most  ambitious  labor 
of  the  world,  the  most  exacting  in  its  requirements,  the 
haughtiest,  and  the  most  spoiled  by  high  wages,  clashes 
with  a  humble,  persevering,  very  capable  labor,  but  one 
less  exacting  than  even  the  lowest  labor  of  Europe.*  " 
Comparing  what  builders,  the  best  paid  trade,  earn  in 

*  "  Americains  et  Japonais,"  p.  170. 


3H     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Japan  with  the  wages  of  the  same  workmen  in  San 
Francisco,  it  will  be  seen  that  one  hour's  work  is  paid 
double  in  California  that  of  a  whole  day  in  the  land  of 
the  Rising  Sun:  according  to  figures  quoted  at  the 
United  States  Senate  on  January  7,  1907,  carpenters 
earned  29  cents  a  day  in  Japan,  against  50  cents  an 
hour  in  San  Francisco;  plasterers,  30  against  75;  stone 
cutters,  34  against  56*4 ;  brick-layers,  37  against  75 ; 
and  blacksmiths,  26  against  40  1-3.  No  doubt  the 
Japanese  workman  is  not  satisfied  in  America  with 
what  he  earns  at  home;  that  is  not  what  he  has  emi 
grated  for;  but,  though  he  treble  and  quadruple  his 
wages,  he  still  does  not  attain  to  those  of  white  work 
men,  and  consequently  he  causes  them  harm.  And 
though  he  should  end  by  earning  as  much  as  they  —  the 
solution  at  first  suggested  by  a  superficial  examination 
of  the  question  —  he  would  be  no  less  a  rival  to  be 
feared;  for  as  he  spends  two  or  three  times  less,  he 
would  quickly  succeed  by  his  savings,  in  raising  himself 
above  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Japanese  always 
earn  less.  As  they  are  now  conversant  with  all  trades, 
those  of  their  compatriots  who  have  managed  to  be 
come  employers  and  who  naturally  engage  their  fellow 
countrymen  to  work  under  them  are  able  to  underbid 
contracts  or  carry  on  business  under  decidedly  easier 
conditions  than  their  American  competitors.  This  ex 
plains,  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  why  the  partisans  of 
exclusion  are  no  longer  recruited  solely  from  the  work 
ing  classes:  not  only  wage-earners  but  business  men, 
farmers,  even  professional  men,  are  threatened  and 


THE   JAPANESE  QUESTION     315 

seek  to  defend  themselves.  There  has  been  arriving 
for  the  last  ten  years,  in  California  and  other  Western 
States  a  class  of  Japanese  capitalists  who  run  farms, 
shops,  even  factories,  and  who  have  an  important  club 
at  San  Francisco. 

But  why  should  not  the  Asiatic  workman  join  the 
Unions  as  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time  and  as  soon  as 
they  begin  to  be  successful,  workmen  arriving  from 
Europe  join  them^ 

The  fact  is  that  he  never  joins  them,  that  it  would 
not  even  occur  to  him  to  do  so,  and  that  the  Unions 
would  not  think  of  admitting  him,  either.  He  has  his 
own  associations,  his  exclusive  groups,  where  employ 
ers,  even  American  ones,  are  glad  to  find,  in  sufficient 
numbers  and  ready  for  their  conditions,  workmen 
whom  the  tyranny  of  the  Unions  often  prevents  them 
from  finding  elsewhere;  but  to  coalesce  with  white 
workmen,  therein  lies  more  than  one  difficulty  caused 
by  rancour  or  by  jealousy:  a  moral  and  psychological 
impossibility.  In  spite  of  the  mistakes,  the  passions, 
and  the  abuses  which  are  mixed  up  with  it,  the  Union 
is  not  a  simple  coalition  of  material  interests,  merely 
a  means  of  obtaining  higher  wages;  it  is  besides,  and 
above  all,  even  for  those  who  understand  it  but  dimly 
a  collective  effort  to  ameliorate  life,  a  generous  and 
capable  striving,  at  great  sacrifice,  if  need  be,  toward  a 
happier  future,  greater  comfort,  better  education  and 
moral  development.  To  raise  the  standard  of  life  is, 
at  bottom,  the  aim  of  all  Unions,  especially  in  England 
and  America.  This  is  an  ideal  that  at  present  the 


316     AMERICA    OF    TO-MORROW 

Asiatic  workmen  are  incapable  of  comprehending,  or  at 
least  of  realizing  to  the  same  degree.  They  do  not  feel 
the  needs,  nor  have  the  aspirations;  they  do  not  know 
the  demands,  they  do  not  share  the  ambitions  of  the 
European  workmen,  still  less  do  they  share  those  of  the 
men  who  have  left  Europe  to  live  better  in  America, 
left  the  Eastern  States  to  seek,  beyond  the  deserts  and 
the  mountains,  the  more  favored  shores  of  the  great 
Pacific.  Whatever  the  future  may  hold  in  store,  there 
lies  therein  a  formidable  split  between  two  civiliza 
tions,  between  branches  of  mankind;  and  if  clever  pol 
iticians  and  diplomatists  succeed  for  the  time  being  in 
making  it  be  forgotten,  the  great  masses  of  the  working- 
classes,  less  subtle  than  their  statesmen,  perceive  it 
clearly  and  proclaim  it  loudly,  especially  when  they 
suffer  from  it. 

But  let  there  be  no  mistake.  What  is  threatened  in 
the  United  States  by  the  arrival  of  the  yellow  race,  is 
not  only  the  ideal  of  one  class,  it  is  the  ideal  of  the 
nation  itself.  The  principal  contribution  of  the  United 
States  to  human  progress  is  forming  with  the  most  di 
verse  elements  a  united  and  self-governing  people, 
without  distinction  of  fortune,  occupation,  or  origin. 
As  Americans  often  build  with  artificial  materials,  but 
so  amalgamated  that  they  equal  or  surpass  stone  in 
strength,  so  they  build  up  their  nation  with  all  sorts  of 
other  peoples  cast  into  one,  and  who  always  take  on  the 
essential  form  of  democracy.  All  that  resists  such  uni 
fication  and  proves  itself  incapable  of  assimilation, 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     317 

compromises  the  proper  working  of  the  whole,  the 
health  of  the  social  body,  and  must,  consequently,  be 
eliminated.  Now,  experience  has  proved  that,  though 
the  whi{e  races  undergo,  in  one  or  two  generations,  the 
changes  induced  by  the  assimilative  power  with  which 
American  civilization  is  endowed  to  so  remarkable  a 
degree,  the  black  and  yellow  races  remain  impervious 
to  this  influence,  and  never  succeed  in  amalgamating 
with  the  whites. 

Undoubtedly  the  problems  of  the  two  recalcitrant 
races  are  different.  In  regard  to  the  blacks  the  ques 
tion  is  no  longer  whole.  If  they  still  inhabited  Africa, 
a  good  law  of  exclusion  would  quickly  solve  the  diffi 
culty,  and  though  the  Republic  of  Liberia  should  take 
umbrage  at  the  measure,  no  one  would  worry.  But  it 
is  no  longer  a  question  of  forbidding  their  entrance; 
they  were  brought  over  formerly,  and  there  they  are, 
some  ten  millions,  who  can  neither  be  sent  back,  nor 
destroyed,  nor  treated  as  slaves,  nor  even,  till  further 
orders,  deprived  of  their  civic  rights.  How  this  diffi 
culty  will  eventually  be  overcome,  no  one  knows;  but 
what  is  certain  is  that,  if  the  day  should  come  when  it 
should  threaten  the  national  peace,  then  it  will  be 
taken  up;  and  also  that,  while  treating  the  negroes  with 
equity,  and  facilitating  their  means  of  existence  and  of 
development,  never  would  they  be  allowed,  even 
should  they  be  in  the  majority,  to  control  public  af 
fairs  and  lower  the  nation  to  their  level.* 

*With  his  usual  eloquence,  Mr.  Henry  van  Dyke  upholds  these  same 
ideas  in  his  "  Genius  of  America." 


3i8     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

For  the  yellow  race  the  same  does  not  hold  good. 
They  are  as  yet  but  a  small  minority,  two  hundred 
thousand  perhaps;  the  thing  is  simply  not  to  let  them 
increase.  It  is  evidently  better  to  shut  the  door  on 
them,  than  to  be  forced  to  expel  them  afterwards.  The 
precautions  that  were  taken  in  time  against  the  Chinese, 
must  be  taken  against  all  Asiatics,  and  with  greater 
care  against  those  among  them  who  show  themselves  at 
the  same  time  the  most  anxious  to  come,  and  the  most 
dangerous  in  their  very  cleverness;  that  is  to  say, 
against  the  Japanese. 

In  spite  of  vain  appearances,  they  are  assimi 
lated  no  better  than  the  negro.  Less  well  even,  for 
he  at  least  loves  America  for  itself  and  looks  upon  it 
as  his  real  fatherland,  while  they  never  see  in  it  more 
than  a  field  of  exploit,  a  means  of  education  or  of 
making  a  fortune.  Encamped  on  this  side  of  the 
Pacific,  they  have  left  their  heart  on  the  other,  and  are 
obstinately  faithful  to  their  first  country  and  its  institu 
tions.  Whereas  the  negro,  in  spite  of  all  that  he  lacks, 
is  nevertheless  an  American,  the  Japanese  as  well  as  the 
Chinese,  Coreans,  and  Hindoos  remain  Asiatics.  And 
were  they  ever  to  settle  permanently  and  increase  in 
number,  as  the  black  race  has  done,  the  trouble  they 
would  create  would  be  very  different  from  the  other, 
since  they  would  have  behind  them,  besides  their  intel 
ligence,  the  protection  of  a  powerful  Empire  which 
considers  them  always  as  its  countrymen. 

Were  it  even  possible  to  hold  dominion  over  them, 
it  would  still  not  be  an  admissible  solution  for  the 


THE  JAPANESE   QUESTION     319 

United  States.  The  American  people  no  more  wish 
for  subjects  than  for  a  master;  they  consider  the  essen 
tial  idea  of  democracy,  which  they  have  more  at  heart 
than  anything  else,  not  equality  of  situation,  which 
they  know  to  be  chimerical,  but  equality  of  opportunity, 
the  possibility  open  to  all  of  attaining  to  the  highest 
rank  and  to  the  best  lot  in  life,  and  the  only  govern 
ment  they  are  pleased  to  admit  of  is  the  government 
"  of  the  people,  by  the  people."  Whoever  is  not  ca 
pable  of  self-government,  is  not  an  American,  and  that 
is  the  inwardness  of  the  negro  question.  Or  if  another 
example  be  desired,  we  may  study  the  progress  accom 
plished  in  the  Philippines  in  ten  years  under  the  Amer 
ican  rule  so  admirably  organized  by  Governor  Taft. 
There  will  be  seen  the  constant  endeavor  to  train  the 
natives  to  govern  themselves;  the  calling  them,  little 
by  little,  to  control  by  their  votes  the  administration 
of  cities,  provinces,  and  even  the  State  itself.  At  the 
time  of  my  visit  to  the  West  (August  and  September, 
1907),  the  American  press  gave  sympathetic  accounts 
of  the  first  parliamentary  elections  in  the  Philippines, 
and  it  announced,  with  no  ill-feeling,  that  the  major 
ity  of  votes  were  in  favor  of  immediate  independence.* 
This  control  of  public  affairs  does  not  interest  the  Jap 
anese  except  so  far  as  it  affects  themselves;  and  if  we 
suppose  that  some  day  they  should  wish  to  take  part, 

*The  Nationalist  candidates  controlled  29,119  votes;  the  Progres 
sionists,  friends  of  America,  18,142.  An  Upper  House,  nominated  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States  and  consisting  of  four  natives  out  of 
nine  members,  counterbalanced  the  action  of  the  Lower  House.  So  far 
the  two  Houses  have  had  no  serious  disagreements. 


320     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

it  would  be  still  worse;  for  they  would  advance  ideas, 
prejudices,  and  interests  that  would  conflict  with  those 
of  Americans.  Becoming  citizens  —  a  hypothesis  still 
far  from  being  realized,  since  very  few  among  them 
seem  to  covet  this  distinction,  and  it  is  refused  to  them 
any  way  —  and  settling  here  and  there,  as  is  their  tend 
ency,  in  compact  and  segregated  colonies,  they  would 
constitute  so  many  foreign  fortresses  in  the  very  heart 
of  the  country,  odious  in  peace  and  dangerous  in  war. 

Nor  can  it  be  said  that,  with  regard  to  the  eighty 
million  inhabitants  of  the  Republic,  their  number,  per 
haps,  140,000  is  sufficient  guarantee  of  their  harmless- 
ness.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  this  little  colony  would 
in  any  difficulty,  fall  back  on  big  Japan,  it  is  in  itself 
a  very  appreciable  factor,  considering  in  how  short  a 
time  it  has  gathered  together;  furthermore  it  is  not  with 
the  whole  population  of  the  United  States  that  it  must 
be  compared,  but  rather  with  the  sparse  inhabitants  of 
California,  Oregon,  and  Washington,  where  the  yellow 
men  concentrate,  and  to  which  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
have  easier  access  by  sea  than  the  Easterners  by  the 
transcontinental  railroads. 

Is  it  not  true  that  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  that  in 
dispensable  outpost  of  the  United  States  in  the  Pacific, 
the  refuge  and  coal-station  necessary  to  the  fleet  in 
case  of  war,  the  Japanese  alone  were,  in  1905,  in  the 
alarming  proportion  of  31,735  out  of  48,229  inhab 
itants,  while  of  this  total  only  1006  were  Americans'? 
Is  it  not  fearful  that  the  citizens  of  the  Union  represent 
2  per  cent  of  the  population  and  the  subjects  of  the 


THE  JAPANESE   QUESTION     321 

Mikado  65  per  cent  or  thirty  times  as  many"?*  Un 
doubtedly  in  the  whole  of  the  United  States  these  pro 
portions  would  be  reversed,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
this  fortunate  state  of  affairs  is  already  threatened  and 
that  the  percentage  of  the  yellow  races  is  rapidly  in 
creasing  while  the  white  population  is  growing  but  too 
slowly,  especially  in  California.  A  disturbing  exam 
ple  is  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  the  exclusion  laws,  the 
Chinese  increase  from  year  to  year;  they  arrive  from 
Mexico  and  from  Canada,  and  most  of  them  succeed 
in  furnishing  the  proof,  necessary  for  their  admission, 
that  they  were  born  in  the  United  States.  According 
to  the  calculation  of  a  Federal  Judge  the  number  of 
these  assertions  would,  if  exact,  imply  that  every  Chi 
nese  woman  living  in  the  United  States  twenty-five 
years  ago  had  had  more  than  five  hundred  children. 
How  will  it  be  with  the  Japanese  if  they  are  free  to  en 
ter  without  obstacle^  Having  come  only  during  the 
last  few  years,  they  already  form  colonies  which,  speak 
ing  of  cities  only,  reach  the  approximate  figures  of  10,- 
ooo  in  San  Francisco,  7,000  in  Seattle  and  the  same  in 
Los  Angeles,  and  4,000  at  Oakland ;  or,  as  far  as  an  in 
dication  of  their  activity  is  concerned,  they  owned  in 
California  224  shops  in  1904,  376  in  1905,  561  in 
1906;  and  the  number  of  restaurants  run  by  them  in 
creased  in  two  years  from  98  to  198,  and  of  inns  from 
245  to  462. 


*Besides,  a  few  Europeans  should  be  deducted  from  the  figures  given 
in  1906  as  Americans,  while  to  the  number  of  Japanese  should  be  added 
4,409  Chinese  and  4,083  Coreans. 


322     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

The  trouble  is  that  no  matter  how  they  may  be  dis 
liked,  they  are  needed!  Before  the  immense  possibil 
ities  of  commerce,  industry,  and  above  all,  farming, 
hands  are  lacking  and  they  furnish  them.  Whereas, 
backed  by  the  Union  and  their  very  scarcity,  the  white 
workmen  impose  on  their  employers  truly  Draconic 
conditions,  the  Japanese  offer  an  obedient  and  unex- 
acting  service  that  makes  them  very  welcome  to  capital. 
Rejected  by  sentiment,  they  are  called  back  by  inter 
est;  whereas  ideas  are  against  them,  facts  are  in  their 
favor.  And  the  result  of  this  situation  is  all  the 
greater  because  it  corresponds  with  an  impulsion  of  the 
Japanese  in  the  same  direction.  It  is  not  from  caprice 
that  they  depart  from  the  pleasant  and  beloved  land 
of  their  ancestors,  but  by  necessity,  because  it  is  not 
large  enough  to  support  them  all.  It  is  not  for  pleas 
ure  that  they  prefer  to  Formosa  and  Corea  (which  are 
both  subject  to  them  and  nearer)  the  distant  shores  of 
America,  where  malevolence  and  humiliation  await 
them;  but  because  they  know  that  there  they  will  find 
fewer  competitors  of  their  own  race,  that  they  will 
make  their  fortunes  sooner;  and  also  because  they  can 
educate  themselves  better  there  and  acquire  a  more 
complete  knowledge  of  all  that  insures  individual  and 
national  prosperity. 

For  this  double  and  ever  growing  conflict  of  ideals 
with  interests,  for  this  antagonism  that  is  at  once  moral 
and  economic,  is  there  indeed  no  remedy?  And  if 
there  is  one,  where  shall  it  be  sought  for?  Of  the 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     323 

numerous  problems  perplexing  the  world  to-day,  per 
haps  there  is  none  more  serious  than  this  one,  if  it  is 
true  that  it  shows  us  marching  toward  each  other  with 
the  probability  of  a  terrific  shock  when  the  head-on 
collision  occurs,  the  two  peoples  who  stand  for  the 
most  energetic  and  in  many  ways  the  most  advanced 
portions  of  the  white  and  the  yellow  races,  the  two 
species  of  mankind  who,  after  having  so  far  shared  the 
earth  between  them  are  now  beginning  to  dispute  its 
possession. 

One  of  Wells' s  heroes,  a  Japanese  of  the  twenty-sec 
ond  century,  suggests  a  solution  which  would  certainly 
be  the  easiest  and  most  refined.  "  At  last,"  he  says, 
"  you  Europeans  have  come  to  acknowledge  that  we 
also  are  whites !  "  Thus  to  deny  the  difficulty  is  a 
stand  pleasing  to  philosophers,  artists,  and  sociologists 
in  debate,  and  perhaps  in  two  hundred  years  it  may  be 
realized;  but  at  present  the  facts  are  quite  otherwise, 
and  the  two  races  are  irreducible.  At  least  they  be 
lieve  themselves  to  be  so,  and  therefore  are,  since  this 
conviction  deters  them  from  associating  in  their  work 
or  their  family  life,  for  they  will  neither  live  together 
nor  join  in  the  same  circles,  and  still  less  unite  in 
marriage. 

More  precise  and  seemingly  practical  solutions  are 
sometimes  suggested,  but  they  do  not  stand  the  test 
of  a  deliberate  investigation.  Such  a  one  is,  for  in 
stance  the  idea  of  an  international  conference  to  es 
tablish  accepted  conditions  on  immigration,  which,  so 
far,  have  been  left  almost  entirely  to  the  transport  com- 


324     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

panics.  But  to  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  such  a  ruling 
in  this  conflict,  is  to  forget  that  the  Japanese  will  never 
accept  other  conditions  than  those  imposed  on  Euro 
peans,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the  United  States, 
while  wishing  to  restrict  yellow  immigration  to  a  min 
imum,  requires  a  free  and  copious  white  immigration. 
At  the  same  time  that  they  look  upon  fifteen  or  twenty 
thousand  Japanese  as  an  excessive  number  for  one  year, 
they  absorb,  not  only  easily  but  profitably,  more  than 
a  million  Europeans.  "  But  then,"  it  will  be  sug 
gested,  "  don't  employ  the  Japanese  and  they  won't 
come;  or  else  pay  them  the  same  as  the  whites,  and  the 
latter  will  no  longer  have  reason  to  complain."  We 
have  already  shown  that  in  the  Far  West  capital  can 
not  get  along  without  them,  and  they  cannot  rise  to  the 
exaggerated  requirements  of  the  white  men's  Unions. 
Wages  do  not  go  up  and  down  according  to  factitious 
rules;  they  are  not  settled  arbitrarily,  but  according 
to  the  material  and  moral  conditions  of  a  given  society 
and  especially  according  to  the  needs  really  felt  by  the 
working-classes.  Workmen  of  totally  different  consti 
tution  and  requirements  will  never  be  paid  alike. 

Must  we  look  to  war  to  cut  this  Gordian  knot  *?  And 
is  it  the  force  of  arms,  that  "  highest  right "  (or  at 
least  so  considered  formerly)  which  will  assign  each  to 
his  place  and  bring  every  thing  to  order?  This  is, 
after  all,  the  most  widespread  idea;  and  the  moment 
the  question  enters  a  more  threatening  phase,  everyone 
begins,  even  in  Europe,  to  speculate  as  to  the  respective 
chances  of  the  probable  opponents,  their  finances  and 


THE   JAPANESE  QUESTION     325 

their  armies,  especially  the  strength  of  their  fleets,  the 
number  of  their  battleships  and  torpedo  boats,  the 
quality  of  their  officers  and  their  crews.  It  is,  indeed, 
astonishing  what  coolness  and  wisdom  are  displayed 
in  such  crises,  by  the  Governments  of  two  such  high- 
spirited  peoples ;  it  is  marvellous  what  concessions  they 
make ;  one  wonders  why  there  is  so  much  consideration 
where  only  protestations  were  expected,  and  why  un 
derstandings  where  ultimatums  were  looked  for. 

It  is  to  be  understood,  and  rejoiced  over,  that,  bar 
ring  accidents  which  are  always  possible,  but  are  no 
more  probable  here  than  elsewhere,  war  between  Japan 
and  the  United  States  is  not  imminent,  because  it  is 
not  judged  opportune  either  at  Tokio  or  Washington. 

Whatever  a  superficial,  or  at  least  local,  opinion  may 
believe,  the  two  Governments  have  the  most  decisive 
reasons  for  preventing  an  armed  conflict.  Not  only 
are  they  wise  and  humane  enough  not  to  love  war  for 
itself,  and  to  realize  that  dreadful  evils  follow  in  its 
train  even  for  the  victor;  but  (what  counts  for  much 
more  with  such  realistic  minds)  neither  one  nor  the 
other  feels  prepared  to  wage  war  successfully;  they  are 
not  ready  to  undertake  it,  and  they  cannot,  without 
danger,  abandon  the  extremely  important  affairs  they 
have  on  hand  at  home. 

Japan  needs  a  period  of  peace  and  quiet  to  recover 
completely  from  the  sacrifices  of  men  and  money  made 
in  the  Russian  War;  to  let  the  confidence  she  won  by 
her  victories  bear  fruit,  and  to  benefit  by  the  impetus 
received ;  to  prosper  the  very  recent  efforts  of  her  people 


326     AMERICA    OF   TO-MORROW 

toward  modern  education,  toward  the  improvement  of 
agriculture,  above  all  toward  the  development  of  com 
merce  and  industry.  Even  while  feeling  confident  of 
victory  (though  that  must  appear  to  her  more  difficult 
of  attainment  than  over  the  Russians),  what  advantage 
could  she  gain  that  would  compensate  for  what  it 
would  cost,  to  balance  with  the  loss  of  her  present  trade 
with  the  United  States,  and  make  up  for  the  set-back 
to  progress  of  all  kinds  of  which  she  realizes  her  needs, 
both  inwardly  and  outwardly4? 

Would  Japan  wish  to  gain  a  footing  on  the  Amer 
ican  continent*?  It  would  be  a  dream  all  the  more 
absurd  because  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  land, 
and  almost  impossible  to  maintain  a  body  of  troops  of 
any  size.  To  seize  the  Hawaiian  Islands?  It  would 
not  be  very  difficult,  it  is  true,  but  how  much  better  to 
continue  the  peaceful  conquest  by  peopling  it  with 
faithful  subjects!  To  annex  the  Philippines?  Later, 
to  be  sure,  she  expects  to  do  so;  but,  for  the  present, 
how  difficult  it  would  be  to  develop  them,  and  how 
much  wiser  it  seems  to  leave  that  big  undertaking  to  the 
Americans!  Anyway,  would  it  be  possible  after  the 
conquest  to  hold  her  own  against  the  certain  hostility 
of  the  population,  when  she  is  already  having  so  much 
trouble  subduing  Corea,  that  country  coveted  for  cen 
turies  and  at  last  retaken,  where  it  is  necessary  at  all 
costs  to  stand  her  ground  this  time,  and  to  settle  down 
so  that  she  can  never  be  driven  out?  It  is  there,  and 
not  elsewhere  that  lies  the  supreme  work  for  Japan, 
which  will  insure  her  both  a  rich  agricultural  domain 


THE   JAPANESE  QUESTION     327 

and  a  supply  station  and  post  of  defence,  an  entering 
wedge  of  conquest  of  the  great  continent.  And,  con 
sidering  the  innate  hostility  of  the  inhabitants,  all 
Japan's  efforts,  colonial,  financial,  military,  and  po 
litical,  are  required  to  succeed  there;  especially  when 
we  consider  the  cost  in  trouble  and  expense  of  her  de 
termination  to  occupy,  in  spite  of  Europe,  and  the 
United  States  and  China  itself,  the  first  rank  in  influ 
ence,  prestige,  and  business  in  Manchuria  and  in  the 
whole  Celestial  Empire.  It  is  possible  that  Japanese 
ambition  likes  to  dwell  on  the  establishment  of  a  do 
minion  which  shall  comprise  on  the  Asiatic  side  all  the 
islands,  perhaps  even,  all  the  coast  line  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  from  the  Philippines  or  (who  knows*?)  from 
the  Sunda  Islands  to  the  Aleutian  Islands  and  Behring 
Strait.  But  the  men  who  direct,  with  so  much  wisdom, 
the  councils  of  the  Mikado  will  know  that  to  realize  so 
vast  an  ambition,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  gain  a  few  naval 
victories. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  equally  far 
from  wishing  for  war  to-day;  and  if  the  fiery  impetu 
osity  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  always  held  itself  in  check,  and 
even  showed  the  greatest  consideration  in  all  relations 
with  Japan,  his  successor  is  not  the  man  from  whom  to 
fear  an  aggressive  attitude.  Prudent  and  pacific  by 
nature,  Mr.  Taft  has  also  the  advantage  of  knowing 
thoroughly  and  directly  all  sides  of  the  question. 
Apart  from  the  fact  that  he  was  Secretary  of  War,  as 
Governor  of  the  Philippines  he  organized  these  Islands 
in  the  name  of  the  United  States ;  he  has  made  several 


328     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

trips  to  Japan;  he  has  visited  China,  Russia,  and 
Europe,  and  it  may  be  said  that  this  chosen  head  of  a 
democracy  has  been  better  trained  to  govern  his  coun 
try  than  any  heir  to  a  hereditary  monarchy.  Finally, 
a  few  weeks  before  taking  up  the  reins  of  state  (which 
is  not  at  the  White  House,  an  empty  metaphor),  he 
went  himself  to  look  into  the  progress  of  the  work  on 
the  Panama  Canal.  This  last  care  is  significant.  Pre 
cisely  there  lies  the  knotty  point  of  the  question.  As 
long  as  the  two  oceans  are  not  joined,  as  long  as  the 
American  fleet  remains  cut  in  two,  the  United  States 
will  try  to  avoid  war.  Their  navy  when  united  is 
equivalent  to  that  of  Japan,  but  most  of  the  warships 
are  stationed  in  the  Atlantic,  and  it  would  take  long 
months  to  arrive,  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  on  the  event 
ful  field  of  battle.  In  a  few  years,  thanks  to  the 
canal,  it  will  take  but  three  weeks;  and  the  chances, 
by  this  fact,  will  have  become  evenly  balanced*;  or 
probably,  in  reality,  a  little  in  favor  of  the  United 
States,  as  the  American  arsenals  will  have  made  a  great 
advance.  So  far  prudence  joins  its  counsel  with  that 
of  a  sincere  love  of  peace,  and  the  fear  of  interfering 
with  business;  which  is  decidedly  efficacious  with  so 
practical  a  people. 

Some  day,   undoubtedly,  the  commercial  develop- 

*President  Taft,  during  his  official  Western  trip  in  the  Autumn  of 
1909,  spoke  of  Japan  several  times  in  the  most  friendly  terms.  He 
nevertheless  replied  to  Governor  Gillett  of  California,  who  at  Sacra 
mento  on  October  6,  expressed  the  wish  that  the  Pacific  Squadron  should 
be  raised  to  sixteen  or  eighteen  armored  cruisers:  "You  forget  that  the 
Panama  Canal  will  be  cut  through  in  four  or  five  years,  and  that  then 
we  shall  be  enabled  to  assemble  twice  as  many  ships." 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     329 

ment  of  Japan  and  the  United  States  will  create  be 
tween  them  a  rivalry  such  as  that  which  is  now  silently 
undermining  the  relations  between  England  and  Ger 
many;  and  that  will  be  a  possible  cause  of  war;  the 
principle  of  a  hostility,  no  longer  local,  but  national. 
Already,  less  than  a  year  after  the  solemn  exchange  of 
friendly  notes  of  which  we  have  spoken,  the  special  ar 
rangements  between  China  and  Japan  on  the  subject 
of  Manchuria  so  disturbed  American  merchants  that  it 
became  necessary  to  ask  Tokio  whether  the  famous  doc 
trine  of  the  Open  Door  meant  that  Japanese  goods 
would  enter  thereby  with  special  privileges.  But  the 
rivalry  is  but  just  coming  to  life,  and  many  causes  com 
bine  to  attenuate  it.  Although,  for  instance  the 
United  States  mercantile  marine,  suffers  from  the  com 
petition  of  the  Japanese  steamers  on  account  of  the 
smaller  cost  of  manning  them,  still,  as  demand  out 
grows  supply  on  the  limitless  shores  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  means  of  transport,  no  matter  whence,  and 
markets,  no  matter  where,  are  profitable  to  everyone. 
Of  the  two  nations,  each  is  the  other's  best  client,  and 
both  feel  that  their  common  efforts  are  not  too  much 
to  develop  the  immeasurable  field  that  lies  before 
them. 

But,  for  all  that  war  is  not  probable  for  several 
years, —  five,  ten,  and  perhaps  more, —  on  account  of 
the  natural  and  indestructible  elements  that  are  the 
basis  of  the  conflict,  it  cannot  be  avoided  forever.  And 
each  country  is  preparing  for  it,  too,  if  only,  as  the  say 
ing  is,  to  preserve  peace.  No  one  is  ignorant  of  the 


330     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

fact  that  both  peoples  are  increasing  their  navies.  It 
is  also  known  that  the  Japanese  are  doing  their  best 
to  transform  Formosa  into  a  first  class  naval  station 
with  powerful  batteries  and  a  fleet  of  torpedo  boats. 
Americans,  on  their  side,  are  enlarging  the  navy  yards, 
especially  along  the  Pacific,  and  fortifying  the  strategic 
points  on  their  coast  and  the  Philippines,  at  the  same 
time  as  the  important  but  exposed  position  they  oc 
cupy  on  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Their  report  for  the 
fiscal  year  1908-1909  allowed  for  an  increase  of 
thirty-six  million  dollars  for  the  War  Department  and 
twenty-six  million  dollars  for  the  Navy  Department, 
and  there  is  no  reason  to  think  they  will  stop 
there.  As  a  naval  power  they  come  immediately 
after  England,  even  surpassing  Germany,  and  still 
more  France,  both  in  actual  effectiveness  and  proposed 
increase. 

Therefore  if  it  were  necessary  to  await  the  solution 
of  the  problem  by  arms,  it  would  only  be  a  question  of 
time  and  patience.  But  it  is  clear  that  whatever  may 
be  the  result  of  the  encounter,  it  will  be  in  no  way  final. 
Neither  power  could  annihilate  the  other  or  completely 
subjugate  it.  The  conquered  nation  would  think  of 
nothing  but  revenge,  and  we  may  imagine  that  its 
former  antipathy  for  its  adversaries  will  not  be  turned 
to  love  when  they  have  beaten  it!  And  even  were 
one  nation  practically  annihilated,  the  problem  would, 
after  all,  remain  the  same:  it  is  not  only  the  case  of 
Japan  and  the  United  States,  but,  in  the  broadest  sense 
of  the  words,  the  whole  East  against  the  whole  West 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     331 

of  the  Pacific  Ocean.*  After,  as  before,  the  war,  two 
races  will  remain  face  to  face,  the  white  world  against 
the  yellow;  that  is  to  say,  as  we  have  just  seen,  two 
divisions  of  mankind  who  do  not  understand  each 
other,  and  who  cannot  blend. 

As  for  the  reconciliation  that  is  not  to  be  expected 
from  war,  could  it  be  hoped  for,  in  a  more  or  less  dis 
tant  future,  from  the  conversion  of  the  Japanese  to 
Christianity*? 

There  is  certainly  no  more  insurmountable  obstacle 
to  the  assimilation  of  the  yellow  and  white  races  than 
the  inherent  difference  of  their  minds.  Though  very 
unlike  physically,  their  moral  divergence  is  greater 
still,  for  the  more  they  live  together  the  more  they  feel 
their  diversity;  and  after  easy  relations  at  the  outset, 
relations  which  had  seemed  sincerely  intimate,  each 
discovers  that  a  wall  of  ice  separates  him  from  the 
other  in  ideas  and  sentiments.  It  is  because  —  to  the 
extent  to  which  one  may  try  to  understand  and  sum 
marize  such  mysterious  questions  —  there  are  on  one 
side,  centuries  of  Christianity,  with  the  firm,  if  not 
clear,  idea  of  personality  applied  even  to  the  concep 
tion  of  God,  which  it  renders  more  accessible,  and  to 
the  conception  of  our  nature,  to  which  it  attaches  such 
importance  that  one  soul  is  worth  worlds, —  much  more 
—  even  the  death  of  a  God.  On  the  other  side,  there 

*If,  contrary  to  all  traditions  and  instincts  of  Anglo-Saxons,  Aus 
tralia,  in  1909  shouldered  the  yoke  of  conscription,  it  is  neither  more 
nor  less  than  a  precaution  taken  against  the  future  enmity  of  Japan,  or 
later  still,  of  China. 


332     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

are  centuries  of  Buddhism  with  the  dream  of  absorp 
tion  into  the  great,  vague  All;  centuries  of  Confucian 
ism,  with  a  spirit  of  routine  that  prevents  all  inner 
growth,  but  especially,  centuries  of  Shintoism  with  the 
thought  of  really  counting  in  relation  to  the  collective 
Being;  with  the  desire  —  grand  and  noble  indeed  —  of 
regarding  oneself,  alive  or  dead,  only  as  an  element 
of  an  enduring  race,  a  thing  to  contribute  to  the  glory  of 
the  Emperor,  the  Son  of  Heaven,  the  visible  incarna 
tion  of  divinity  and  of  the  nation.* 

From  these  primordial  differences,  intimately  con 
nected  with  the  religious  formation,  others  could  easily 
be  drawn  by  deduction;  and  observation  would  add 
this  one,  which  is  perhaps  not  one  of  the  least  im 
portant;  the  secret  irritation  of  being  unable  to  under 
stand  one  another,  and  of  realizing  that,  even  despising 
each  other,  they  must  each  take  the  other  into  account. 
But  this  is  not  the  place  to  philosophize  so  much,  and 
perhaps  it  will  be  agreed  without  discussing  it  to  the 
end,  that  a  great  step  toward  reconciliation  will  have 

*Of  these  three  doctrines,  Buddhism  best  corresponds  to  our  idea  of 
a  religion.  Introduced  into  Japan  about  the  sixth  century  of  our  era, 
it  enjoyed  the  greatest  favor  until  the  Revolution  of  1868,  which  restored 
the  imperial  power  that  has,  from  that  time,  greatly  encouraged  Shinto- 
ism  or  ancestor-worship,  which  is  principally  offered  to  the  Emperor, 
but  without  excluding  heroes,  eminent  men,  and  soldiers  who  died 
fighting.  It  is  the  great  obstacle  to  the  Christian  faith,  in  that  it  seems 
to  relegate  it  to  the  rank  of  an  anti-national  religion,  because  incompat 
ible  with  the  worship  of  the  Emperor.  As  to  Confucianism,  which  was 
also  imported  about  the  sixth  century,  it  constitutes  in  Japan  as  in 
China,  rather  a  code  of  morals  than  a  religion;  all  its  recommenda 
tions  may  be  summarized  in  loyalty  to  the  Emperor,  fidelity  and  obed 
ience  on  the  part  of  inferiors  toward  their  superiors,  children  toward 
their  parents,  and  servants  to  their  masters. 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     333 

been  taken  the  day  when  the  yellow  race  and  the  white 
race,  imbued  with  the  Gospel,  will  look  at  each  other 
as  the  children  of  the  same  Heavenly  Father,  the  dis 
ciples  of  the  same  Christ,  brothers  bound  to  love  each 
other,  souls  ransomed  together  at  an  infinite  price, 
jointly  sharing  in  merits  and  expiations,  having  the 
same  origin  and  destined  to  enjoy  together,  even  while 
remaining  as  personalities,  the  happy  union  with  the 
life  of  one  God.  Or  if  it  be  objected  that  the  Gospel 
does  not  prevent  enmity  between  Christians,  I  would 
reply  that  their  differences  are  in  no  way  comparable 
to  those  we  have  been  discussing  here,  and  that,  be 
sides,  their  agreement  has  always  largely  depended  on 
the  fidelity  they  have  shown  to  their  common  ideal. 

But  if  it  is  true  that  the  conversion  of  the  Japanese 
to  Christianity  would  effectively  contribute  to  render 
their  fusion  with  the  white  race  possible,  where  does 
this  important  work  stand  to-day,  and  is  the  Gospel  on 
the  highroad  to  being  accepted  in  Japan,  at  least  by 
a  chosen  few  who  would  diffuse,  by  a  sort  of  fortunate 
contagion,  the  essential  point  of  our  ideas  and  senti 
ments^  The  reply  to  such  questions  is  not  encour 
aging.  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Christians, 
perhaps,  out  of  fifty  million  inhabitants,  that  is  the  re 
ligious  balance  sheet  of  the  country  which  St.  Francis 
Xavier  converted  with  such  remarkable  success  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  Catholicism,  implanted  by  this 
great  apostle,  and  which  had  gained  a  million  be 
lievers,  was  smothered  in  blood  in  the  persecution  of 
1614;  when,  after  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  ab- 


334     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

solute  exclusion,  our  missionaries  were  allowed  to  re 
turn  to  Japan  (1860),  they  found  thirty  thousand 
Catholics  faithful,  in  secret,  to  their  ancient  faith;  and 
since  then,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  space  of  half  a  century, 
the  conversions  have  only  doubled  this  modest  number. 
The  different  sects  of  Protestantism  with  eight  times 
the  resources  in  men  and  money  but  without  the  sup 
port  of  a  first  contingent  of  believers,  have  succeeded 
during  the  same  time  in  about  equalling  the  number 
of  Catholics.  A  Russian  bishop,  named  Nicolas,  of 
most  unusual  zeal  and  cleverness,  by  surrounding  him 
self  with  converts  of  whom  he  has  made  catechists  and 
even  priests,  without  obligation  of  celibacy,  has  con 
quered  by  himself  about  thirty  thousand  souls  for  the 
Orthodox  Church.  And  there,  for  all  denominations 
of  Christians  together,  stands  the  present  state  of  mis 
sionary  work  among  the  Japanese:  three  baptized  be 
lievers  to  every  thousand  heathen. 

If  we  were  to  seek  for  the  causes  which  might  ex 
plain  the  smallness,  or  at  least  the  slowness,  of  these 
results,  we  should  find  a  first  and  fundamental  one  in 
the  fact  that  the  Japanese  look  upon  Christianity  as  a 
foreign  religion,  the  religion  of  those  whites  whose 
sciences  and  industries  they  have  accepted  because  they 
so  evidently  excel  their  own  and  were  indispensable  to 
their  material  progress,  but  whose  beliefs,  attachments, 
and  customs,  appear  in  no  way  superior  to  their  own. 
It  is  certainly  true  that  for  dignity  of  life,  religious 
practices,  and  moral  ideas  of  whatever  sort,  the  travel 
lers,  merchants,  and  sailors  of  Christian  origin,  who  go 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     335 

to  Japan,  are  not  generally  such  as  to  give  a  very  high 
idea  of  our  faith.  Happily  it  is  quite  the  contrary 
with  the  missionaries  of  all  persuasions;  but  the  more 
favorable  impression  that  they  could  not  fail  to  pro 
duce  is  sadly  counterbalanced  by  their  diversity  of 
belief  and  the  opposition  of  their  teaching.  For  the 
infidels  beginning  to  be  touched  by  the  Gospel,  noth 
ing  is  so  disturbing  as  to  see  it  pulled  in  every  direc 
tion  by  those  who  come  to  offer  it  to  him. 

And  the  difficulties  would  be  great  enough  without 
this  contradiction.  The  masses  are  held  back  from 
Christianity  by  their  customs  and  habits ;  chastity  dur 
ing  the  youth,  and  monogamous  marriage,  would 
alone,  among  the  requirements  of  our  law,  suffice  to 
render  it  unattractive.  On  the  other  hand,  the  elite 
savante,  or  at  least  so-called,  has  read  in  the  way  of 
religious  works  only  the  writings  of  our  unbelievers  or 
of  our  hypercritics ;  his  information,  extended  but  sup 
erficial,  just  suffices  to  let  him  know  the  objections 
without  rendering  him  desirous  or  capable  of  under 
standing  the  replies.  And  it  is  sad  to  state  these  very 
replies  would  be  hard  to  find;  the  few  good  books  are 
not  translated,  and  it  is  not  all  missionaries  who  can 
explain  the  history  of  religion  and  solve  the  problems 
of  Biblical  exegesis,  discuss  "The  Essence  of  Christ 
ianity,"*  or  the  "The  Religion  of  the  Spirit,"f  refute 
the  insinuations  of  Renan  and  Anatole  France,  contro 
vert  English  positivism  and  German  relativism,  evo- 

*By  Harnack. 
tBy  Sabatier. 


336     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

lutionism  and  monism,  that  are  both  so  universal,  beat 
down  by  reasoning,  or  by  touching  the  heart,  that 
transcendent  disdain  of  the  faith  that  the  little  Japs 
have  brought  back  from  Berlin  or  Paris,  and  which 
they  believe  to  be  an  inseparable  part  of  true  modern 
development. 

Must  we  then,  despair  of  converting  the  Japanese 
to  Christianity?  We  realize  that  so  far  success  has 
come  with  exceeding  slowness,  and  we  try  to  under 
stand  the  reason ;  but  that  is  far  from  meaning  that  we 
think  their  conversion  impossible.  Of  the  three  prin 
cipal  obstacles  that  stand  in  the  way  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  intellectual,  moral,  and  national  order,  there  is  not 
one  that  is  not  itself  battered  in  breach  by  contrary  in 
fluences,  and  that  is  not  destined  to  weaken  with  time. 
The  rational  difficulties,  which  at  least,  only  affect  the 
educated  classes  will  lose  their  force  by  degrees  as  more 
thorough  studies  cure  savants  of  their  infatuation,  and 
as  Christian  apologetics  become  more  convincing.  In 
the  second  place,  if  it  is  true  that  Christian  morals,  by 
their  very  excellence  and  purity,  repel  natures  accus 
tomed  to  somewhat  unscrupulous  self-satisfaction,  it 
is  equally  certain  that  the  need  of  a  binding  law  and  a 
bridle  on  passion  is  becoming  more  and  more  felt 
among  those  who  to-day  are  directing  Japan  and  who 
are  frightened,  not  without  reason  at  the  disorder  into 
which  their  manners  and  customs  are  thrown  by  the 
rapidity  of  all  sorts  of  transformations;  at  the  weaken 
ing  hold  of  the  ancient  faiths ;  at  the  sudden  disappear 
ance  of  a  feudal  society  in  which  each  one  relied  on  the 


THE   JAPANESE  QUESTION     337 

others  and  lived  according  to  custom;  and  finally,  at 
the  accession  of  an  industrial  civilization  that  compels 
individuals  to  find  their  sole  support  in  themselves  and 
their  personal  convictions.  And  with  the  same  sim 
plicity  with  which  it  formerly  asked  everywhere  for 
officers  and  engineers,  the  Government  is  now  demand 
ing  professors  of  ethics,  and  requesting  its  officials  to 
have  public  lessons  in  the  subject  given  by  all  capable 
masters,  whatever  may  be  their  philosophy  or  their  re 
ligion.  That  the  partisans  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
are  not  excluded  by  this  significant  call,  but  that  on  the 
contrary,  the  enlightened  leaders  are  beginning  in  their 
inmost  souls  to  count  on  them  above  all  others,  is  a 
proof  that  already  the  foreign  origin  of  Christianity  no 
longer  inspires  such  prejudice  as  formerly. 

It  may  be  added  that  what  remains  of  it  would  quite 
disappear  could  the  missionaries  from  outside  leave  the 
place  to  native  catechists,  priests,  and  bishops.  The 
spirit  of  sacrifice,  the  zeal,  and  the  sobriety  of  the  few 
converts  who  have  so  far  been  associated  with  the  min 
istry,  shows  what  confidence  can  be  placed  in  the  future 
of  an  indigenous  clergy.  After  all,  what  nation,  in  the 
past,  has  become  or  remained  Christian  by  following 
other  methods'?  From  the  moment  there  is  a  Japa 
nese  clergy  and  episcopacy,  Japan  will  quickly  be  won 
to  Christianity;  and  then  it,  far  better  than  we,  can 
convert  Corea,  China,  and  the  whole  of  the  Far  East.* 

*The  idea  is  also  widespread  among  the  Catholics  of  the  United 
States  that  their  priests  would  succeed  better  than  others  in  converting 
the  Japanese.  It  will,  perhaps,  not  be  long  before  we  shall  know,  for 
the  American  Church  will  soon  be  in  a  position  actively  to  collaborate 
in  mission  work. 


338     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

Let  no  one  see  a  reproach  in  these  words.  So  far  from 
it  that,  on  the  contrary,  I  want  to  say  that  they  are 
already  beginning  to  be  realized.  At  the  end  of  De 
cember,  1906,  the  four  Catholic  dioceses  of  Japan 
could  count  for  60,282  believers,  4  bishops,  and  119 
foreign  missionaries,  but  also  32  native  priests;  the 
Protestant  sects,  to  the  number  of  twenty,  could  count 
for  62,862  followers,  889  foreign  missionaries,  and 
1379  Japanese  ministers  or  catechists.  In  the  Cath 
olic  missions  in  China,  the  number  of  faithful  was 
880,000  in  1907,  and  of  native  priests,  521,  or  a  few 
more  than  of  foreign  priests.  Small  as  these  figures 
seem  compared  with  those  of  the  population,  they  nev 
ertheless  afford  a  glimpse  of  a  more  fruitful  future,  and 
they  at  least  suffice  to  prove  that  there  is  nothing  fun 
damentally  incompatible  between  the  yellow  race  and 
adherence  to  Christian  worship  and  priesthood.  Fur 
thermore,  that  is  a  fact  that  would  be  denied  neither 
by  believers,  for  whom  the  Gospel  is  destined  to  all  na 
tions,  nor  by  historians  and  impartial  observers,  who 
have  seen  it,  throughout  the  centuries,  adapt  itself, 
without  yielding,  to  the  most  varying  forms  of  civil 
ization. 

While  awaiting  the  time  when  this  vast  but  distant 
hope  shall  become  a  reality,  and  when  from  the  East 
to  the  West  (which  will  then  be  so  knit  together  and 
blended  that  it  will  no  longer  be  known  to  which  shores 
to  apply  the  names),  the  light  of  the  Gospel  will 
shine  on  all  peoples  and  so  lighten  their  dark- 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     339 

ness  that  they  can  understand  each  other, —  until 
then  there  remains  to  be  considered  as  a  much  more 
modest  and  purely  local  solution,  but  which  in  the  ab 
sence  of  others  deserves  to  be  thought  over :  I  mean  the 
attenuation  of  the  conflict  between  the  two  races  which 
would  result  on  the  American  Pacific  coast,  and  espe 
cially  in  California,  by  a  more  rapid  growth,  of  the 
white  population. 

This  is  the  very  proceeding  by  which  the  United 
States  has  averted  the  threatening  side  of  the  negro 
question,  thanks  to  the  European  immigrants  con 
stantly  increasing  in  far  greater  proportion  than  the 
blacks,  although  the  latter  are  more  prolific.  It  is  true 
that  here  the  intellectual  inferiority  must  be  taken  into 
account,  which  would  not  be  the  case  with  the  Japa 
nese,  who  are  as  clever,  as  hard-working,  and  more 
thrifty  than  Americans;  but  this  is  the  greater  reason 
for  these  last  to  maintain  and  develop  as  much  as  pos 
sible  their  numerical  advantage,  incomparably  stronger 
in  regard  to  the  Japanese  than  the  negroes.  They 
must,  over  the  threatened  territory,  hasten  the  arrival 
of  white  settlers,  and  attract  their  Eastern  compatriots 
or  Europeans  by  every  means  in  their  power.  Should 
they  succeed  in  maintaining  the  present  proportion, 
which,  Hawaii  excepted,  is  still  excellent,  the  yellow 
peril  would  be  almost  averted,  or  at  least  restricted  to 
those  annoyances  and  inconveniences  that  cannot  se 
riously  affect  the  life  of  a  great  people. 

No  matter  how  great  the  influx  of  whites  might  be, 
it  would  be  very  long  before  they  would  exceed  the  re- 


340     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

sources  of  all  kinds  that  are  offered  by  the  Pacific 
coast.  The  wealth  of  Washington  and  Oregon  is  still 
fresh  and  apparently  inexhaustible;  the  number  of  in 
habitants  of  these  two  States  (2,500,000)  might  be 
ten  times  as  great  without  impoverishing  anyone;  and 
then  there  would  hardly  be  enough  to  develop  all  the 
arable  land,  all  the  forests,  all  the  mines,  and  all 
the  fertile  and  navigable  waters.  As  to  California,  the 
State  most  threatened  by  the  yellow  race,  although  set 
tled  for  a  much  longer  time,  it  offers  no  fewer  chances 
than  do  the  other  two  to  serious  workers  who  go  there 
to  earn  their  livelihood;  and  this  is  what  I  wish  in 
sistently  to  set  forth  here,  having  convinced  myself  of 
it  by  what  I  could  see  and  hear  during  the  few  weeks 
of  my  sojourn  there,  and  by  documents,  easily  pro 
cured.  These  are  generously  distributed  by  the  promo 
tion  committee  of  San  Francisco.  From  its  discovery 
in  1536  by  Hernan  Cortes,  until  its  annexation  by  the 
United  States  in  1848  —  the  same  year  in  which  John 
W.  Marshall  found  the  gold  deposits  there  —  Cali 
fornia  made  but  very  slow  progress.  It  then  became, 
like  all  gold-mining  countries,  the  object  of  an  extraor 
dinary  boom,  but  it  was  unable  to  keep  up  the  rich 
returns  of  the  first  few  years.  To-day  the  precious 
metal,  of  which  some  sixteen  hundred  million  or  eight 
een  hundred  million  dollars  has  been  mined  in  all, 
still  yields  a  respectable  number  of  millions  a  year;  but 
it  has  blended  most  fortunately  with  more  normal 
resources,  and  it  is  realized  that  the  real  wealth  of  Cal 
ifornia,  as  of  the  fields  of  the  fabulist,  lies  in  cultivat- 


THE   JAPANESE   QUESTION     341 

ing  the  soil  under  which  the  buried  treasure  lies.  In 
this  vast  State,  that  has  an  average  of  two  hundred 
miles  in  width  and  eight  hundred  in  length,  it  is  true 
that  sixty  million  acres  are  in  mountain  and  desert 
inaccessible  to  the  plough,  but  right  there  the  cattle  find 
more  pasturage  than  they  can  browse,  and  forty  million 
acres  of  arable  land  are  left.  The  glaciers  and  the 
snows  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  replenish,  beyond  fear  of 
exhaustion,  the  water  courses  and  natural  reservoirs 
which  insure  to  the  fullest  extent  the  irrigation  of  that 
part  of  the  country  where  rain  is  insufficient;  and  it 
should  be  mentioned  that  admirable  systems  are  being 
established  to  profit  by  it.  Nevertheless,  everything 
considered,  whether  it  be  naturally  fertile  land  or  that 
which  could  easily  become  so,  the  cultivated  portion 
remains  extremely  small ;  millions  and  millions  of  acres 
still  await  the  settler,  and  the  total  population,  which 
is  not  quite  two  and  a  half  million,  could  double  and 
quadruple  without  in  any  way  exceeding  the  possibil 
ities,  as  they  say  out  there,  of  these  rich  territories.  It 
is  not  that  nothing  has  so  far  been  done  to  make  them 
pay.  According  to  the  statistics  published  the  year  of 
my  visit,  1907,  the  State  counted, — besides  walnut, 
fig,  and  olive  trees  which  are  considered  as  spontaneous 
growth,  —  thirty  million  fruit  trees :  apple,  apricot, 
cherry,  peach,  pear,  orange,  and  lemon.  The  vines 
yield  an  excellent  table  grape,  although  they  do  not 
understand  how  to  develop  them,  and  wines  already 
well  known,  which  with  the  same  care  as  is  lavished 
on  them  in  France,  might  very  probably  acquire  the 


342     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

value  of  French  vintages.  Even  cultivated  in  a  rather 
primitive  manner,  vineyards  and  orchards  bring  in  an 
average  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  an  acre;  with 
intensive  cultivation  they  would,  and  sometimes  do 
yield  as  much  as  one  thousand  dollars  an  acre.  The 
felling  of  forest  trees  furnishes  eight  million  five  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  building  lumber,  and 
as  much  again  of  other  kinds  of  wood.  The  Cali 
fornia  redwood  tree  exists  nowhere  else  and  the  dimen 
sions  to  which  it  attains  form  a  curiosity  of  great 
attraction  to  tourists:  in  some  a  tunnel  has  been  cut 
that  will  allow  carriages  to  be  driven  through.  And 
they  are  so  numerous  that  in  continuing  to  fell,  as  is 
now  being  done,  four  hundred  million  a  year,  it  would 
require  two  centuries  and  a  half,  even  if  they  did  not 
reproduce  themselves,  before  they  would  be  extermin 
ated.  Cattle-raising  would,  if  desired,  succeed  ad 
mirably  in  California  with  the  temperate  climate, 
which  almost  everywhere  remains  the  same  in  winter 
and  in  summer, —  to  such  a  point  that  the  clothing  of 
January  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  month  of  August, 
—  the  herds  can  be  left  in  the  open  and  fed  on  the 
healthiest  fodder  the  whole  year  round,  thus  saving 
the  expense  of  hay  and  stabling.  This  advantage  is 
being  recognized  by  an  already  appreciable  number  of 
settlers,  but  whom  the  State  would  like  to  see  increase 
more  rapidly. 

And  how  many  other  roads  to  fortune  lie  open  be 
fore  the  too  rare  farmers !  It  is  sufficient  to  point  out 
that  California  imports  every  year  some  twenty  mil- 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     343 

lion  eggs  and  chickens  which  it  could  so  easily  raise 
on  its  own  land.  But,  to  dwell  only  on  what  are  at 
present  the  most  important  sources  of  wealth,  it  may 
be  stated  that  industries,  magnificently  favored  by  the 
wells  of  natural  gas  and  the  hydraulic  force  of  the 
Sierra  torrents,  already  turn  out  annually  more  than 
four  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of  manufactured 
articles;  besides  which,  mining  is  not  limited  to  gold, 
but  extends  to  many  other  substances,  such  as  copper, 
oil,  and  clay,  to  a  total  value,  in  1906,  of  fifty- four 
million  dollars;  finally,  all  these  products,  as  well  as 
those  of  farming,  find  an  easy  outlet  by  four  transcon 
tinental  roads  and  the  steamboat  lines  which  bring 
the  Far  East  into  communication,  not  only  with  the 
wonderful  harbor  of  San  Francisco,  but  the  ports  of 
San  Diego,  San  Pedro,  Eureka,  Santa  Barbara,  and 
Monterey.  The  maritime  trade  of  California  already 
exceeds  a  hundred  million  dollars  a  year,  and  the  Pan 
ama  Canal  will  rather  be  an  auxiliary  than  a  competi 
tion  from  the  very  fact  of  bringing  it  into  closer 
relation  with  the  Atlantic  ports  of  both  the  Old  and 
the  New  World. 

But  that  there  is  plenty  of  room  in  California  for 
newcomers  can  be  seen  from  the  density  of  the  popu 
lation  alone,  which  is  9.5  per  square  mile;  while  it 
rises  to  152  in  the  State  of  New  York,  140  in  Penn 
sylvania,  86.  i  in  Illinois,  and  to  proceed  westward,  40.2 
in  Iowa,  38  in  Wisconsin,  22.1  in  Minnesota,  and  18  in 
Kansas.  And  that,  in  another  way,  there  is  an  advan 
tage  in  taking  one's  place  among  the  two  and  a  half 


344     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

million  inhabitants*  who  share  the  156,172  square 
miles  of  this  territory,  is  beyond  doubt  when  one  has 
seen  in  official  statistics,  that,  per  head,  the  average 
fortune  is  $751  in  Germany,  $1,125  m  tne  whole 
United  States,  $1,145  m  Great  Britain,  $1,228  in 
France,  $1,247  in  Australia,  and  $2,800  in  California. 
But  that  our  invitation  should  not  seem  solely  inspired 
by  worldly  motives,  let  us  add  that  nowhere  is  there 
a  better  climate,  a  more  flowering  land,  a  more  en 
chanting  sky,  or  such  a  delightful  life;  or,  let  us  rise 
higher  still,  though  the  efficaciousness  of  our  motives 
should  sink  in  proportion,  and  recall  the  dominant  idea 
of  this  last  chapter;  to  wit,  that  it  is  a  question  of  our 
maintaining  the  preponderance  and  ideals  of  our  white 
race  against  the  threatening  invasion  of  the  yellow 
race. 

The  real  defence  of  a  nation  consists  neither  in 
squadrons  patrolling  the  ocean,  nor  batteries  guarding 
the  shores;  in  itself,  in  the  number  and  worth  of  its 
citizens,  lies  its  real  strength.  And  therefore  we  have 
confidence  in  the  United  States. 

In  many  respects  undoubtedly  Japan's  forces  seem 
to  promise  her  the  victory.  If  her  inhabitants  are 
fewer,  her  regular  army  is  ten  times  more  numerous 
than  that  of  America;  if  her  navy  is  smaller  and  she 
builds  fewer  men  of  war,  she  has  the  power  to  assemble 

*Exactly  1,485,053  according  to  the  decennial  census  of  1900;  1,648,- 
ooo  in  1906,  according  to  the  estimate  of  the  "Statesman's  Year  Book" 
of  1909. 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     345 

and  mobilize  them  in  one  or  two  weeks,  whereas  the 
United  States  Squadrons  are  separated  by  a  broad  con 
tinent.  But  still  the  greatest  source  of  confidence  to 
the  Mikado  must  be  the  quality  of  his  soldiers  and 
sailors.  Their  bravery  in  the  war  against  Russia  as 
tonished  the  most  courageous.  It  seemed  as  if  neither 
they  nor  their  officers  placed  any  value  on  human  life. 
Heroism  was  the  rule  among  all  ranks.  Thousands 
of  unknown  little  foot-soldiers  on  the  ships  transporting 
them,  in  the  trenches  of  Port  Arthur,  and  on  the  fields 
of  Mukden,  died  with  all  the  nobleness  of  a  Chevalier 
d'Assas;  and  their  families,  when  they  heard  of  it,  did 
not  resign  themselves,  but  on  the  contrary,  rejoiced 
that  one  of  them  had  died  for  the  Mikado,  and  sin 
cerely  gloried  in  this  enviable  entry  into  the  common 
glory  of  ancestors. 

But  were  I  to  say  that  America  seems  to  me  inferior 
in  resources  or  ideals,  I  should  be  obviously  insincere. 
The  United  States  is  arranging,  by  the  cutting  of  the 
Panama  Canal  for  a  more  rapid  reunion  of  its  fleets; 
and  in  the  meantime  it  devotes  larger  sums  each  year 
to  the  development  of  its  navy,  whereas  the  Japanese 
are  obliged  to  cut  theirs  down.  Its  army  ordinarily  is 
in  no  way  comparable  with  that  of  their  possible  en 
emy,  but  it  will  be  agreed  that  the  Pacific  will  give 
it  some  time  to  prepare  against  what  would  seem  a 
most  improbable  invasion;  and  on  the  other  hand  it 
possesses  enough  wealth  of  all  kinds,  but  especially  of 
men,  and  sincerely  devoted  men,  to  stop,  wear  out,  and 
destroy,  in  time,  any  enemy.  Less  feudal,  less  col- 


346     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

lective,  less  impersonal,  less  fanatic,  perhaps,  than  the 
patriotism  of  the  Japanese,  that  of  Americans  is  not 
less  deep-rooted  or  ready  for  sacrifice.  To  realize 
what  the  Star  Spangled  Banner  means  to  them,  one 
must  have  lived  with  them  intimately  and,  if  I  may  say 
so,  have  thrilled  with  their  emotions.  Whether  they 
boast  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  or  whether 
—  directly  or  in  the  person  of  their  fathers  —  they 
have  found  in  the  United  States  the  country  of  their 
choice,  the  one  that  has  realized  their  ambitious  dreams 
or  which  received  them  in  their  distress  and  raised  them 
from  the  misery  they  had  endured  elsewhere  —  however 
it  may  be,  they  love  their  country  and  its  institu 
tions  with  a  passion  and  a  pride  in  which  reason,  in 
stinct,  and  will  seem  to  have  condensed  their  strength, 
and  of  which  I  know  of  no  other  example  in  history 
that  has  ever  equalled  its  fierce  ardor. 

On  the  eve  of  my  departure  from  San  Francisco,  a 
young  Paulist  born  in  the  city  itself,  led  me  to  Golden 
Gate  Park,  which  extends  from  the  last  houses  to  the 
ocean  shore.  Crossing  the  green  fields,  the  lawns,  the 
groves  of  flowering  shrubs,  the  pine  and  cypress  woods, 
the  long  alleys  of  eucalyptus  surrounding  the  transpar 
ent  lakes,  one  would  never  imagine  that  some  thirty-odd 
years  ago  this  peninsula  was  but  a  heap  of  bare  sand. 
But  if  Nature  occasionally  condescends  to  allow  herself 
to  be  embellished  by  man,  she  is  not  lacking  in  means 
of  asserting  her  superiority  whenever  she  wishes  to. 
When  my  friend  had  let  me  admire  all  the  beauties  of 
the  park,  he  led  me  to  the  summit  of  Strawberry  Hill 


THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION     347 

in  the  middle  of  it,  and  which  commands  a  vast  pan 
orama  of  the  horizon.  To  the  northwest  Tamalpais 
reared  its  head  to  the  skies,  while  its  flanks  slope  grace 
fully  down  to  the  shore  of  the  great  bay.  The  heights 
of  Berkeley  to  the  northeast  formed  a  harmonious 
counterpart,  and  in  the  background  Mount  Diablo' s 
two-horned  crest  stood  proudly  out  against  the  sky. 
But  bluer  than  these  blue  mountains  and  equal  to  the 
deep  azure  of  the  zenith,  the  Pacific  Ocean  in  its 
grandeur  eclipsed  all  the  splendid  panorama;  and 
though  no  doubt  imagination  had  something  to  do  with 
it,  it  really  seemed  to  me  more  vast  than  other  seas. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  climb  very  high  to  see  the  stretches 
of  plain  widen  greatly,  on  condition  only  that  some 
land  marks  should  come  at  different  distances  to  de 
fine  them;  while  to  the  north  and  south  the  limitless 
sea  faded  quickly  into  the  vagueness  of  the  forever 
similar  waves,  before  us  to  the  west,  on  the  contrary, 
its  immensity  was  clearly  marked  either  by  alternating 
lights  and  shadows,  or  by  the  unequally  distant  sil 
houettes  of  four  or  five  ships  breaking  and  increasing 
the  perspective.  But  far  as  the  sight  could  reach, 
thought,  freer  and  quicker  still  went  from  wave  to 
wave  all  the  way  to  Hawaii,  to  the  Philippines,  to 
Japan,  to  China,  as  far  as  those  shores  of  the  Far  East 
that  had  become  for  us  those  of  the  setting  sun,  since 
that  orb,  as  if  to  increase  our  feeling  of  exotism  and 
distance,  was  preparing,  in  spite  of  names,  there  to 
descend  into  the  sea. 

Then  Asia,  with  its  hundred  of  millions  of  yellow 


348     AMERICA   OF   TO-MORROW 

men,  appeared  to  us  like  a  gigantic  shadow,  full  of 
mystery,  an  enigma,  a  threat,  an  inexhaustible  reserve 
of  enemies  to  be  feared.  And  to  reassure  us,  we  felt 
the  need  of  bringing  back  our  thoughts  and  our  looks 
from  those  too  far  and  too  vague  horizons  to  the  neigh 
boring  barracks  of  the  Presidio,  to  the  cannons  of  the 
forts  and  the  powerful  batteries  which  from  both  sides 
of  the  Golden  Gate,  defend  the  entrance  to  America. 
But  it  was  not  from  these  that  the  real  comfort  seemed 
to  come.  With  far  greater  confidence  I  turned  my 
eyes  to  the  side  away  from  the  sea,  to  the  great  dome 
of  the  City  Hall,  where  free  citizens  themselves  rule 
their  destiny  and  conduct  the  public  business.  This 
bold  building,  strikingly  symbolic  of  the  whole  nation, 
withstood  the  fearful  shock  of  the  earthquake,  and 
where  some  too  hastily  built  portions  had  cracked  and 
chinked,  the  city  workmen  were  quietly  at  work 
strengthening  them. 


INDEX 


352 


INDEX 


Canada,  Western,   161-196 

Canadian   Northern  Railroad,   187 

Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  168, 
174,  176,  178,  181,  184,  187 

Canadian  Parrant,  the,  138 

Canadians,  in  the  United  States, 
72 

Canon  of  the  Colorado,  287 

Carillon,  Fort,  49 

Carmelite  convent,  200 

Carnegie,    Andrew,    5 

Carroll,  Dr.  H.  K.,  81 

Cascade   Mountains,  223 

Cathedrals,  Catholic,  131,  132- 
134,  146,  204,  205 

Catholic  Church  Extension  Soci 
ety,  76-85 

Catholic    Extension,    122 

Catholic  Summer  School  of  Amer 
ica,  40-43,  46,  47 

Catholic  Times,  The,  quotation 
from,  121 

Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Socie 
ty,  151 

Catholic  World,  The,  28 

Catholicism,  in  America,  74,  75; 
founding  of  parishes,  75; 
spread  of,  76;  per  cent  in  Chi 
cago,  76;  seminaries,  77;  mis 
sions,  78-85;  use  of  public 
funds,  84,  85;  in  Omaha,  129, 
130;  development,  135-160;  in 
Canada,  165;  Catholic  sailors, 
229,  230;  Indian  Catholics,  205; 
in  San  Francisco,  275;  in  the 
University  of  California,  281- 
283- 

"Certainty  in  Religion,"  refer 
ence  to,  261 

Champlain,  Lake,  40,  49 

Charles  II,  King,  162 


Chautauqua,  the  school,  52,  56, 
58 ;  the  amphitheatre,  54-61 ; 
the  Hall  of  Philosophy,  55;  the 
original  of  similar  institutions, 
56,  57;  the  Catholic,  57;  ex 
penses,  57;  courses  offered,  57, 
58 ;  as  a  regular  city,  58,  59 ; 
distinguished  from  a  watering 
place,  59,  60;  amusements  and 
games,  60;  public  worship,  61 ; 
attitude  to  religions,  61-64;  tne 
Normal  Hall,  62;  the  Aula 
Christi,  62,  63 ;  attendance,  64 

Chautauqua  Daily,  The,  52 

"  Chez  les  Frangais  du  Canada," 
quotation  from,  167 

Chicago,  as  a  business  centre,  66 ; 
ugliness,  67 ;  homes,  67 ;  parks 
and  drives,  67,  68 ;  automobiles, 
69-71 ;  immigrants,  73 ;  popula 
tion,  73 

Chicago,  University  of,  86;  in 
corporation  of,  89 ;  endowments, 
90,  91 ;  architecture  of  build 
ings,  91 ;  varied  instruction  of 
fered,  92;  library  and  labora 
tories,  92,  93 ;  Extension  Depart 
ment,  93,  94;  summer  term,  94, 
95 ;  concerts ;  religious  services, 
97,  98;  Divinity  School,  102; 
College  of  Religious  and  Social 
Science,  103 ;  College  Settle 
ment,  104,  105;  gymnasiums, 
106 ;  dormitories,  107 ;  Beecher 
House,  108 ;  fraternities,  108- 
112;  expenses,  108;  college 
hymn,  in;  college  yell,  in; 
college  paper,  113;  University 
Press,  113;  publication  of  books 
and  periodicals,  113,  114; 
wealth  of,  285 


INDEX 


353 


Chinese,   in   Canada,   181;   in  the 
United    States,    301,    303,    309, 

3i8,  32* 
Chinese  quarter,  in  San  Francisco, 

268 

Chippewas,    the,    158 
Christian   Union,   104 
Cincinnati,  University  of,  286 
Clapp,    Moses    E.,    145,    150,    154, 

155 

Claretie,   Monsieur,   196 
Clarke,  Bob,  117 
Colaneri,  Mgr.,  129 
Columbia   University,   285 
Columbus,    Christopher,    212 
Como  Park,  St.  Paul,  156 
Confucianism  in  Japan,   332 
Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  130 
Conway,  Father,  30 
Cooper,  Fenimore,  50 
Cornell  University,  285 
Cortes,  Herman,  340 
Country  Club,   Omaha,   125 
Country  Club,  Peoria,  120 
Cousins,   Captain   N.  E.,   246,  248 

250,  252 

Covington,  Bishop  of,  71 
Crees,  the  Indian  tribe,  170 
Creighton,  Edward,  128,  129 
Creighton,  John,   128,   129 
Creighton    University,    Omaha, 

127,  129 

Cretin,  Joseph,  139,  142,  143,  158 
Crevecoeur,  Fort,  135 
Crime,   prevalence   of,   in   Califor 
nia,  290,  293 

Crises,   financial,    effect   on    immi 
gration,  8 

Crops  of  1907,  statistics  of,  126 
Culver,   Helen,   89 
Currency,  motto  on  national,   254 


Daily  Maroon,  University  of  Chi 
cago,  113 

Dairy   farm  products  of   1907, 
statistics  of,   126 

Daly,  Father,  30 

Dartmouth  College,  286 

"  De  San  Francisco  au  Canada," 
274 

Delta  Kappa  Epsilon,  fraternity, 
in 

Delta  Upsilon,  University  of  Chi 
cago,  109-112 

Demers,  Father,  222 

Dennys,  Mr.,  pioneer  settler  of 
Seattle,  207 

"  De  Quebec  a  Victoria,"  refer 
ence  to,  171 

"Description  of  Louisiana,"  136 

De  Segur,  Mgr.,  81 

Deshon,  Father,  29 

De  Vos,  Father  Julius,  71,  76 

Diablo,  Mt.,  California,  347 

Dinan,  J.  F.,  289,  291 

"Discovery  of  the  Old  World  by 
a  Chicago  Student,"  reference 

fot  53 

Divorce,  granting  of,  in  Wash 
ington,  201 

Dowling,  Judge,  47 

Dowling,    Father,    127 

Doyle,  Father,  64,  85 

Driscoll,  Rev.  John  J.,  42 

Drummond,   Henry,  64 

Dupont  des  Loges,  Mgr.,   130 

EARTHQUAKE,  in  California,  255, 
258,  263-273,  287;  in  Reggio 
and  Messina,  265 

Education  in  the  United  States, 
35,  87 

Eliot,  President,  of  Harvard,  282 


354 


INDEX 


Elliott,  Father,  84 

Ellis,  Marjorie,  32 

Erie  Railroad,  31 

Evening  high  schools,  34-36 

Extension,  The,  80,  81,  83,  84 

FALCONIO,  MGR.,  84 

Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  136,  141 

Field's,  Marshall,  66 

Fire,  aboard  ship,  248-250 

Fitch,   George,   117 

Fleet,  United  States,  in  the  Pacific, 

228 ;       circumnavigating       the 

globe,  302,  308 
Fogazarro,  50 

Forbin-Janson,  Mgr.  de.,   138 
Fourth  of  July,  celebration  of,  21- 

24 

Fox,  Rev.  James  J.,  42 
Fraternities,  college,  108 
French  Canadians,  164,  165 
Fuller,  Harvey  B.,  109,  no 

GALTIER,   FATHER,   137,   138,   153 

Garry,   Fort,  157-1 59 

"  Genius  of  America,"  317 

George,  Lake,  49 

Georgetown,  University  of,   127 

Gervais,  B.,   138 

Gillett,   Governor,  328 

Glacier  House,  Canada,  179 

Gohier,   Urbain,   quoted,  220,   221 

Goiffon,  Father,  141,  157-1 59,  166, 

1 68 
Gold   in  California,   discovery  of, 

340 
Golden     Gate     Park,     California, 

346 

Gonzaga  College,  Spokane,  205 
Grace,    Bishop    Thomas    L.,    140, 

IS*.  158 


Grand    Army    of    the    Republic, 

survivors  of,  146 
Grand    Trunk    Pacific    Railroad, 

187 

Great  Northern  Railroad,  215 
Green   Lake,   Washington,  211 
Green  Mountains,  48 
Grenoble,  University  of,  95 
Guerin,   Madame,   151 
Guerin,  Vital,  138,   151 

HARLEM  Evening  High  School,  35 

Harnack's  "The  Essence  of  Chris 
tianity,"  335 

Harper,  William  R.,  88,  89 

Harvard  University,  285 

Haverford    College    (Penn.),    286 

Hawaii,  government  of,  319,  320, 
326 

Hayashi,  Count,  194 

Hearst,  the  millionaire-politician, 
278 

Hearst  Hall,  University  of  Cali 
fornia,  278 

Hecker,  Father,  50 

Henderson,  Charles  R.,  96,  97, 
103-105 

Henin,  Father,  143 

Hennepin,   Father  Louis,  135,   136 

Henson,  Dr.  P.  S.,  64 

Henzie,  Mr.,  the  architect,  204 

Hibernians,  Order  of,  146 

Hill,  James  J.,  145,  214 

Holland,  steamship,  4 

Holland-American  Line,  13 

Hotel  Champlain,  46,  47 

Hotel  Stander,  Seattle,  208 

Hotel  Washington,  Seattle,  208, 
209 

Hudson,  banks  of,  32 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  162,  205 


INDEX 


355 


Hughes,  Father  John  J.,  29 
Hughes,  Charles  E.,  112 
Huret,  Jules,  quoted,  274 
Hylebos,   Father,  222 

//  Piccolo  Mondo  Antico,  50 

Illecillewaet  glacier,   180 

Illinois,  University  of,  88 

Illiteracy,  among  immigrants,  9 

Immigration  Act  of  1907,  9 

Immigration,  problems  of,  in 
America,  4-7,  300;  statistics,  8, 
9,  12,  13;  efforts  at  exclusion, 
9,  10;  medical  examination,  10; 
distribution,  10,  n ;  assimila 
tion,  n,  12,  37,  72,  74,  184,  254, 
300,  316-331,  339 

"  In  the  Land  of  the  Strenuous 
Life,"  52,  1 1 6,  258 

Indians,  in  the  United  States,  136, 
140,  156,  165,  219,  222,  245, 
246 

Ireland,  Archbishop  John,  5,  123, 
132-160,  175 

Irenaeus,  Saint,  100 

Irrigation,  in  Canada,  172,  174 

JAPANESE,  in  the  United  States,  16, 
19,  21,  238,  252,  253;  in  Cana 
da,  181,  186,  191-195;  exclusion 
laws  in  California,  228,  299- 
322 ;  solutions  of  problem,  323, 
324;  army  and  navy,  329,  330, 

345,  346 
Jews,  as  emigrants  to  America,  6, 

253-255;    in    New    York,    7;    in 

evening    high    schools,    37;    in 

Chicago,  73 
Johnson,  John   A.,   145,   150,   152- 

155 
Jordan,  David  S.,  112 


Junger,  Bishop,  of  Nesqually,  205 

KABURAGI,    GORO,   181,   182,    186, 

188,  190 

Kauten,  Father,  222 
Kelley,  Father  Francis  C.,  79,  80 
Kelly,  Judge  William,  155,  156 
Kentaro,  Baron  Kaneko,  183 
King,    Mr.,  the   Canadian   Minis- 

te.,  192,  193 
Knights    of    Columbus,    127,    146, 

274-277 
Kouro  Shivo,  211 

LABOR  DAY,  293,  294 

Labor  Unions,  294-297,  307,  324 

La  Farge,  Mr.,  the  architect,  204 

Lagevin,  Mgr.,  167 

Lake  Champlain,  57 

Lake  Chautauqua,  54,  56 

Lake  Michigan,   66 

Larpenteur,   Auguste,    143 

La   Salle,    Cavalier   de,    116,    120, 

135,   136 

"Last  of  the  Mohicans,  The,"  50 
Lehigh  University    (Penn),  286 
Leland    Stanford   University,    239, 

285 

Lemieux,  Rodolph,  193 
"Le  Peuple  du  Vingtieme  Siecle," 

quotation   from,   220 
Lionnet,   Monsieur,    167,    174,    175 
Loras,  Mgr.,   137,  139,  140,  143 
Los  Angeles,  287 
Luna  Park,  Tacoma,  227 
Lyon,  steamer,  252 

McCORMlCK,   editor   of   The   Chi 
cago  Tribune,  87 
McCorry,  Father,  203 
McDowell,  Mary  E.,  105 


356 


INDEX 


McGolrick,   James,   the   Rt.   Rev., 

147 

McKinley,  President,  46,  64 

McMillan,  Father,  31,  32,  35,  42, 
46,  48,  51 

Magellan,  238 

Magnam,  Father,  164 

Mandat-Grancey,  Baron  de,  122 

Mandel  Hall,  University  of  Chi 
cago,  91,  97 

Marquette,  the  explorer,  116 

Marshall,  John   W.,   340 

Masqueray,  Monsieur,  the  archi 
tect,  145,  156 

Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech 
nology,  286 

Medicine  Hat,  Canada,  172 

Megan,  Mr.,  of  the  Board  of  Edu 
cation,  87 

Mendota,  137,  139,  153,  156 

Menlo  Park,   California,  287 

Menlo  Park,  Seminary  of,  285 

Merry  del  Val,  Cardinal,  tele 
gram  from,  147 

Messina,  earthquake  in,  265 

Miamis,  the  Indian  tribe,  136 

Minnesota,  the,  199 

Minnesota,  University  of,  286 

Miller,   Lewis,   57 

Missionary,   The,  85 

Missions,  home  and  foreign,  of 
Catholic  and  Protestant 
churches,  78,  104,  222 

Missouri,  University  of,  286 

Mitchell  Tower,  University  of 
Chicago,  91 

Montreal,  development  of,  199 

Moore,  a  resident  of  Seattle,  207, 
209 

Moore,  Thomas  V.,  281,  282 


Muldoon,   Mgr.,  Bishop   of  Tam- 
assus,  73,  75 

NATIVE  Daughters  of  the  Golden 

West,  Society  of,  262 
Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West, 

Society  of,  262 

Naval  Home,  Philadelphia,  231 
Navy,  United  States,  227-231 
Negro   question,   in  America,    301, 

317-319,  339 

New  York  Herald,  The,  45 
New  York   University,   286 
Newman,  Cardinal,  98 
Newman  Club,  the,  281 
Nicolas,   a  Russian   bishop,    334 
Nicholson,  Dr.,  34-36 
Noordam,  steamship,  4,  6,   13,   15 
Norman,  the  artist,  240,  241 
North  American  Exclusion  League, 

307,  308 

Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  223 
Northwest,  description  of  the,  213 
Northwestern    University,    Illinois, 

286 
Norton,  Mrs.  Lily  Mary,  241,  246 

OAKLAND,  California,  278 
Oblates     of     Mary     Immaculate, 

community  of,  164,  169,  176 
O'Callaghan,  Father,  96-98 
O'Dea,  Bishop,  203-206 
Ohio  State  University,  286 
Ogden,  William  B.,  89 
Ogdensburg,  Bishop  of,  71 
O'Gorman,  Thomas,  142,  144 
O'Keefe,  a  lawyer,  87 
Oklahoma,  Bishop  of,  71 
Olympus,  Mt,  Washington,  224 
Omaha,     Nebraska,     123 — ;     the 


INDEX 


357 


Omaha  —  Continued 
"  meat  city,"  124 ;  products,  124, 
125;    statistics,    125;    education, 
127;    slaughter-houses    of,    129; 
Catholic  population,  129,  130 

Open  Door,  principle  of  the,  231, 

329 

Oster,  Father,  141,  157 
Oxford,  University  of,  95 

PACIFIC  Coast  Steamship  Company, 
233,  244 

Pacific  Navy  Yard,  Bremerton, 
226,  227,  228 

Pacific  Ocean,  journey  on,  237, 
238,  244 

Pain,  Bishop  Spalding  on,  118, 
119 

Palo  Alto,  California,  287 

Panama  Canal,  212,  328,  345 

Paris,  University  of,  95 

Paulist  Church,  San  Francisco, 
263 

"Paysages  et  Silhouettes  Exoti- 
ques,"  reference  to,  255 

Peabody,  Francis  W.,  64 

Pelletan,  Monsieur,  228 

Pembina,  Minnesota,  137,  159 

Pennsylvania,    University    of,    285 

Pensions  for  sailors,  231 

Peoria,  Bishop  of,  96 

Peoria,  growth  of,  116,  117;  whis 
key  warehouses,  116;  parks  and 
churches,  116;  Public  Library, 
117 

Peoria  Herald  Transcript,  117 

Perraud,  Cardinal,  130 

Perry,  Bliss,  64 

Persecution  of  1614,  333 

Petty,  Ambrose,  79,  80,  122,   123 


Petz,  Paul  J.,  62 

Philippines,    government    of,    319, 

3«o,  326 

Pioneer  Square,  totem  pole  of,  219 
Pious  X,  77,  229 
Portland,  Oregon,  216 
Portsmouth,  treaty  of,  304 
Post  Intelligencer,    The,   224,   225 
Post-office,  work  of,  202 
Powers,  Father,  29 
Priests,    characteristics   of,    30,    77 
Princeton  University,  286 
Printchard,  Mr.,  168 
Printers'   Union,   working  of,   295 
Prison  at  Sing  Sing  (N.  Y.),  34 
Propagandism,  society  of,  79-85 
Propagation  of  the  Faith,  The,  81, 

82 

Provencher,  Mgr.,  166 
Puget  Sound,  210,  215,  224,  226- 

228,  236 

QUATER,  Father,  143 
Queen,  the  steamer,  248,  249,  252 
Quigley,  Mgr.,  the  Archbishop  of 
Chicago,  73,  75 

RAVOUX,  Father  Augustin,  139, 
141,  143,  158 

Rainier,  Mt.,  224,  227 

Reggio,  earthquake  in,  265 

Remy,  Father,  156 

Rhode,   Mgr.,  Peter  Paul,  73 

Richard,  Cardinal,   130 

Riordan,  Archbishop,  273,  281, 
287 

Robert,  Father,   141 

Rockefeller,  John  D.,  88 

Rocky   Mountains,   Canadian,    178 

Roosevelt,  Miss,  her  visit  to  Ja 
pan,  305 


358 


INDEX 


Roosevelt,  Theodore,  46,   64,   147, 

148,  185,  198,  207,  224,  254,  292, 

302,  307,  312,  327 
Root,  Mr.,  Secretary  of  State,  308- 

310 

Roulleaux,  George,  quoted,  255 
Rousselot,  the  Abbe,  108 
Routhier,  A.  B.,  171 
Ruef,  Abraham,  289,  290 
Russia,   Japan  in  war   with,   304, 

325 

SABATIER'S  "The  Religion  of  the 
Spirit,"  335 

Sailors,  life  of,  in  the  United 
States,  230,  231 

St.  Boniface,  German  society  of, 
81 

St.  Boniface,  mission  of,  159,  166, 
167 

Saint  Cecilia,  cathedral  of,  131 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  118 

St.  Francis  de  Sales,  French  so 
ciety  of,  8 1 

St.  Gervais,  catastrophe  at,  208 

St.  Jarlath's,  76 

Saint-Jean  Berchmans,  the  Bel 
gian  church  of,  68,  69,  76 

St.  Joseph,  Seminary  of,  145 

St.  Leo  the  Great,  Church  of,  221 

St.  Louis  Exposition  of  1904,  243 

St.  Louis,  University  of,  127 

St.  Malachi's,  76 

St.   Mary's  Church,   163 

St.  Paul  Cathedral,  laying  of  cor 
ner  stone,  144,  145,  155 

St.  Paul  Democrat,  The,  140 

St.  Paul,  diocese  of,  141 

St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Mani» 
toba  Railroad,  214 


St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  132,  138,  139, 

153 

St.  Peter,  Minnesota,  137,  153 
St.   Peter's   mission,   see   Mendota, 

153 

Saint-Pierre,  Mademoiselle  de,  175 
St.    Quentin,   Penitentiary   of,   288 
St.  Thomas  College  cadets,  146 
San    Francisco,    after    the    earth 
quake,    256-262,   269,    271,    272, 
302 

San  Francisco  Chronicle,  The,  295 
San  Rafael,  excursion  to,  283-285, 

293 

Sausalito  railroad,  284 
Scannell,  Mgr.,  130 
Schmitz,  Eugene,  289,  293 
Scott,   Mt.,    Washington,   224 
Searle,  Father,  the  General  Supe 
rior,  29 

Seattle,    Washington,    growth    of, 
122,    127,    198-203,    235;    cathe 
dral  of,  204,  205;   geographical 
position  of,  210 
Settlement,  College,   University  of 

Chicago,  104 
Shintoism  in  Japan,  332 
Sing  Sing,  New  York,   prison   at, 

34 

Sioux  tribes,   158 

Smith,    Robert   A.,    145,    150,    155 
Smith,  Rev.  Talbot,  42,  44,  46,  50 
Snelling,  Fort,  137 
"  Social    Spirit   in    America,"    103 
Socialism,    in    the    United    States, 

297,  300 

Society  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  130 
Spalding,   Mgr.,   96,   115,   117-121 
Spencer,   Herbert,  letter  of,   183 
Spokane,  233,  234,  244,  246,  251, 

253 


INDEX 


359 


Spokane,  the  "City  of  the  Inland 

Empire,"  217,  218 
Squadron,     Atlantic,     see     Fleet, 

United  States 
Stark,  Henry,  258,  261,  262,  264, 

272,  283,  284,  288 
Stone,  Arthur  W.,  229 
Strawberry  Hill,   California,  346 
Strikes,  in  the  United  States,  294- 

297 

Suez  Canal,  212 
Sulpicians,  French  and  American, 

286 

Swinburne,  Admiral,  228,  229 
Syracuse  University,  286 

"TACHE,  La   Vie   de   Mgr.,"    168 

Tache,  Mgr.,  164,  167 

Tacoma,   the    "  City   of   Destiny," 

217-226 
Taft,  President,  64,  305,  319,  327, 

328 

Takahira,  Baron,  308-310 
Tamalpais,  Mt,  279,  284,  347 
Tertullian,  100 
Thorwaldsen's    chef   d'oeuvre,   62, 

63 

Ticonderoga,  Fort,  49 
Totem  poles,  219,  246 
Trans-Siberian  Railway,   212 
True  Voice,  The,  129 
Trusts,  views  on,  225,  226 
Tufts  College,  286 
Turinaz,  Mgr.,  167 
Twain,  Mark,  quoted,  236 
"Twins  of  Brighton,"  43 

UNION  Lake,  Washington,  211 
Universities,   wealth   of,   285,   286 
University  of  Chicago  Weekly,  113 

VANCOUVER.  \%% 


Van    Dyke,    Henry,    reference    to, 

3'7 

Verne,  Jules,   123 
Villa-Marie    convent,    at    Fronte- 

nac,  153 

Vincent,  George  E.,  57 
Vincent,  John  H.,  57,  61,  63,  64 
Viviani,  Minister,  154 

WAGES    of   Japanese    and    Amer 
icans,  313-316,  324 
Wallace,  Elizabeth,  108 
Washington,  Booker  T.,  64 
Washington,  growth  of  the  State, 

198,  216,  217 
Washington,  Lake,  211 
Washington,    State    University  of, 

235 
Washington   University,   Missouri, 

286 

Western  Reserve  University,  286 
Westerners,  characteristics  of,  251, 

252 

Wheeler,  President,  279,  280,  282 
Willaume,  Mr.,  156,  157 
Williams   College    (Mass.),  286 
Winnipeg,  Canada,  163-171,  195 
Wyman,  Father  Henry  H.,  261 

XAVIER,  St.  Francis,  333 

YALE  University,  285 

"  Yellow  peril,"  see  Japanese  in 
Canada  and  the  United  States 

Yosemite  Valley,   California,  287 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associa 
tion,  University  of  Chicago,  104 

Young  Women's  Christian  Asso 
ciation,  University  of  Chicago, 
104 

Yunnan,  Father,  29 


UNIV 


MFORNIA  LT1- 


INITIAL 

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THIS 


_10OW-7,'39(402S) 


U.  C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


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